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PAPERS ON 


THE ELECTRIC LIGHT 

FOR 

RAILWAY TRAINS 


BY 


GEO. D. SHEPARDSON 

H 


DEPARTMENT OF 
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 
MINNEAPOLIS 


1901 















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FOREWORD. 

For some time past the writer has been engaged in a study 
of the lighting of railway cars, giving special attention to the 
various electric systems in use or proposed. As the study 
proceeds, different topics are being discussed before railway 
clubs and elsewhere. Some of the papers are here bound to¬ 
gether for greater convenience. This compilation makes no 
pretense of being a complete volume, other numbers of the 
series being in preparation. 

The first paper on “Train Lighting/’ read before the North- 
West Railway Club (Proceedings, May, 1900,) gave a brief 
history of car lighting, a discussion of the general principles of 
illumination and a report on tests of the actual illumination 
found in a number of cars lighted by various illuminants. 
This is believed to be the first published account of actual 
measurements of illumination in cars. 

The second paper (Electrical World and Engineer, Vol. 
36, page 5, July 7, 1900) described the electrical features of the 
“Burlington Limited” train running between Minneapolis and 
Chicago and lighted from storage batteries. 

The third paper (Proceedings North-West Railway Club, 
February, 1901) discussed the elementary principles of the 
dynamo, with special reference to the problems in its regulation 
for lighting trains. 

The fourth paper (St. Louis Railway Club Proceedings, 
March 8, 1901) discussed the various electric lighting systems 
and gave reports of relative costs of electric and other light¬ 
ing systems. 

The fifth paper (The Forum, Vol. 33, page 282, May, 1901, 
reprinted in pamphlet form) presented the general advantages 
of electric lights for cars. 



M. C. B. Std. Filing, Size 6x9. 




CHICAGO. 
NEW YORK. 


Railway Specialties 

— and — 

Special A\acbipery. 


THE Q. and C. COMPANY, 

109 Endicott Arcade, ST. PAUL, MINN. 



OFFICIAL FEBRUARY 

PROCEEDINGS * MEETING 

1901 


North=West 

Railway 

Club 


PAPERS PRESENTED: 

Lubrication of Locomotive Valves and Cylinders. 
The Elementary Principles of the Dynamo. 


Next Meeting 
March 12th, 


SUBJECTS OP DISCUSSION: 

Electric Traction for Heavy Railway Service. 
Lubrication of Locomotive Valves and Cylinders. 


Hotel Ryan, 
St Paul. 


....OFFICERS.... 

President; T. A. FOQUE, Minneapolis, Minn .*. Mech. Supt. Soo Line. 

First Vice-President, ALFRED LOVELL, St. Paul, Minn . Supt. M. P., N. P. Ry. 

Second Vice-President, G. H. GOODELL, St. Paul, Minn . Mech. Eng'r, -N. P. Ry. 

Secretary and Treasurer, T. W. FLANNAGAN, Minneapolis, Minn . 

Chief Clerk, Mech. Dept., Soo Line. 
Asst. Secretary, F. B. FARMER, St. Paul, Minn . Westinghouse Air Brake Co. 

Volume VI. Number 6. 


ALGERITE 


AND 


<§> 

GUARANTEED 


KNOBBLED HAMMERED CHARCOAL IRON 
LOCOMOTIVE FLUES ARE 


TO PASS A. R. M. M. SPECIFICATION. 


Manufactured by THE TYLER TUBE AND PIPE CO., WASHINGTON, PA. 

R. R. Representative, GEO. E. M0LLES0N, Havemeyer Bldg., 26 Cortlandt St., New Ysrk City. 




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85,000 MILES OF TRACK 


Represent the Railway Constituency of 

CHICAGO VARNISH CO., 

ESTABLISHED 1865. 

Dearborn and Kinzie, 22 Vesey Street, Pearl and High Streets, 

CHICAGO. NEW YORK. BOSTON. 


SEIISID FOR PAMPHLET. 


NEWARK 
BOSTON 
CLEVELAND 
8T. LOUIS 
CHICAGO 


MURPHY VARNISH COMPANY. 


ESTABLISHED 1825. 

UNITED STATES IRON 

BROWN & GO., INCORPORATED, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

For Staybolts, Piston Rods, Driving Axles and other Special Purposes. 




SIMPLEX RAILWAY APPLL^CE CO. 

GENERAL OFFICt^..^.FISHEft BI^LdIng"C tllCA<iYILL. 

















OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS 


— OF THE — 

ilniIu»ny Club* 

FEBRUARY, 1901. 

Published monthly (except June, July and August) by the North-West Railway 
club, 35 and 37 East Third Street. 

Entered at St. Paul Post Office as second class matter . 

Vol. VI. No. 6. ST. PAUL, MINN. $2.00 Per Year. 


The regular monthly meeting of the North-West Railway Club 
was called to order at 8 :10 p. m., February 13 , 1901 , in the par¬ 
lors of the West Hotel, Minneapolis, Vice President Lovell in the 

chair. 

The following were present: T. E. Adams, L. E. Ashbaugh, 
R. P. Blake, W. C. Brown, J. F. Berry, Edward P. Burch, S. L. 
Bean, James Casey, W. P. Cowles, Geo. B. Couple, T. L. Daniel, 
W. L. De Remer, J. J. Fitzpatrick, S. Flannagan, R. P. Felton, T. 
W. Flannagan, J. J. Flather, G. H. Goodell, IT. T. Herr, G. H. 
Horton, C. C. Jett, B. F. Kelsey, C. J. Lundquist, A. Lovell, C. 
Merkert, M. E. McKee, Wm. W. McIntosh, W. R. Nicoll, T. J. 
Noonan, W. A. Parker, F. H. Pearce, A. A. Powers, W. P. Rich¬ 
ardson, E. H. Scofield, S. Spear, H. E. Smith, Geo. D. Shepard- 
son, Sam Shepard, F. K. Shults, J. A. Thaler, J. M. Tate, Geo. G. 
Tirrell, R. V. Wright, H. E. Williams, A. N. Willey, David Van 
Alstine, Geo. P. Zachritz. 

Vice President Lovell : The President being sick has neces¬ 
sitated someone else taking the chair. He requested me to be sure 
and be present here tonight, which I was very much inclined not 
to do. However, as I was desirous of hearing what discussion 
there might be on this paper on “Electric Traction for Heavy Rail¬ 
way Service,” I made a strong effort to be here. The first thing 








12 


before the meeting, after collecting the attendance cards, will be 
the minutes of last meeting. As they are printed and before you, 
the reading will be dispensed with, unless there are some objec¬ 
tions. No objections; they will stand approved. 

Is there any unfinished business, Mr. Secretary ? 

Secretary Flannagan : No, sir. 

Vice President Lovell: The next in order, then, will be 
the report of the Executive Committee upon the names presented 
for membership at the last meeting. The Secretary will please 
read these. 

Secretary Flannagan : The following names, presented for 
membership at our last meeting, have been approved by the Execu¬ 
tive Committee: 

Poland C. Greer, Manager Western Department, Keystone 
Chemical Mfg. Co., 1601 Great Northern Bldg., Chicago. 

A. J. Farley, Secretary Chicago Pv. Equipment Co., Great 
Northern Bldg., Chicago. 

Fred Nayler, Locomotive Foreman, C., St. P., M. & 0 . By., St. 
James, Minn. 

Lewis E. Ashbaugh, Engineering Department, Gillette-Herzog 
Branch American Bridge Co., Minneapolis. 

P. L. Knebel, Assistant Superintendent, Eastern Minnesota 
Pailway, West Superior, Wis. 

EL T. Herr, Assistant Master Mechanic, C. G. W. By., St. 
Paul. 

E. M. Mortimer, Master Mechanic, Great Northern By., Mel¬ 
rose, Minn. 

T. M. Flynn, Chief Clerk to Superintendent, Great North¬ 
ern, Ry., Melrose, Minn. 

The following names have been presented for membership to¬ 
night : 

By T. W. Flannagan: 

Mr. F. K. Shults, Representative National Tube Company, 
P. R. Dept., Western Union Bldg., Chicago. 

By G. H. Horton: 

E. Falkenberg, Poadmaster, Soo Line, Enderlin, N. D. 


13 


Vice President Lovell: The names last read by the Sec¬ 
retary will be referred to the Executive Committee. 

Mr. Secretary, is there any new business ? 

Secretary Elannagan: No, sir. 

Vice President Lovell: If there is no new business, the 
next in order will be the discussion on the paper read at last meet¬ 
ing by Mr. Burch, “Electric Traction for Heavy Bailway Service.” 
His paper has been printed, and I presume you all have had the 
time to read it over. In addition to that, most of you heard it read, 
and I hope there will be generous discussion, as it is a very inter¬ 
esting topic. If Mr. Burch is here tonight I will call upon him 
to open the discussion. There may be some things that he wishes 
to say in addition to what he has in the paper. 

Mr. Edw. P. Burch : In opening the discussion of the paper 
on electric traction, I may say that it was my object to first review 
briefly the development of electric traction for heavy railway serv¬ 
ice, leaving aside particularly the street railway, which is not of 
interest to the North-West Kailway Club. I followed this up by 
coming out squarely in favor of the general adoption of electric 
traction for heavy railway service on existing roads, where the 
service amounts to ten or more trains in each direction daily, and 
especially for freight traffic, the real work of a steam road. I 
presented the mechanical and electrical details of the electric loco¬ 
motive, compared them with the steam locomotive, and brought 
out the different features of the electric locomotive; the matter 
of weight and capacity; of acceleration; the matter of saving 
in time and stops; saving in repairs, in wages, fuel, road-bed* 
special work, perhaps in broken rails; all of which I hope will 
be of interest to the club, and bring out a general discussion. 

Vice President Lovell : Has anyone any remarks to make ? 

Mr. G. H. Goodell (Northern Pacific By.) : Mr. President, 
Mr. Burch and the other members of the club may be interested 
to know that modern heavy compound locomotives, such as the 
Northern Pacific has acquired during the last three years, show a 
performance in freight service on level divisions of about 900 


14 


pounds of coal per 10,000 ton miles, and on hilly districts about 
1,300 pounds of coal per 10,000 ton miles. In passenger serv¬ 
ice engines of modern proportions of the compound type show a 
performance of about 1,500 pounds of coal per 10,000 ton miles on 
level districts, and on hilly districts about 2,200 pounds of coal 
per 10,000 ton miles. These figures are somewhat under those 
given by Mr. Burch. 

Prof. Geo. D. Shepardson (University of Minnesota.) : There 
is a rather interesting point in connection with this matter, show¬ 
ing how Nature compensates. I believe one of the very first appli¬ 
cations of the electric railway of any considerable size was the 
experimental electric locomotive made by Mr. Page, with the help 
of government subsidy, which I believe was used between Wash¬ 
ington and Baltimore about 1842 . The electric motor was later ap¬ 
plied to street railways, as was brought out in the paper. The 
compensation to which I wish to refer is this: That soon after 
the electric motor came into its proper place, on the street railways, 
it was found that the street railways became formidable com¬ 
petitors to the steam roads, especially in suburban traffic. We 
have an illustration right here in the Twin Cities of how the in- 
terurban traffic, the local traffic, of the steam roads was almost en¬ 
tirely lost when the interurban electric road was put in, and the 
experience that was had here in Minneapolis and St. Paul has 
been duplicated in other cities. So, while the development of the 
electric motor for traction purposes was going on along street rail¬ 
way lines, it acted as a loss to the steam roads. Now it would 
seem as though this loss were to be compensated, and wherever the 
electric motor—the electric locomotive—has been applied to steam 
roads, the introduction effects a marked saving. The interesting 
compensation is this : That while the street railways cut into 
the local traffic of the steam roads, and thereby lost a great deal 
of income to the steam roads, at the same time these street rail¬ 
ways have been putting up the money with which the railway mo¬ 
tor has been developed, and, to compensate for the loss of income 
which the steam roads suffered, the street railways have developed 
the motor so that now they turn it over to the steam roads for use 
on the locomotives, a well-developed machine, and the expense 


15 


of the experimental work which the street railways have been un¬ 
dergoing will not fall upon the steam roads. So, while you can 
look upon the electric motor of the trolley lines as a dangerous 
competitor, the steam roads may also thank it for doing a lot of 
their experimental developing work for them. 

Vice President Lovell: Has anyone any information as 
to what extent the electric motor or the electric locomotive has 
supplanted the steam locomotive in heavy freight service ? There 
has been considerable discussion in the last year tor two, particu¬ 
larly in the electrical journals, as. to how this was going to come 
about, but so far as my experience goes, I have not seen very 
much of this as yet; it may come in the future. While the devel¬ 
opment has been quite rapid in short runs for local passenger 
traffic, it does not seem to develop very rapidly for heavy freight 
service and long lines. 

Mr. Adams, have you anything to say about coal consump¬ 
tion of locomotives on your line ? 

Mr. T. E. Adams (Master Mechanic, Eastern Railway of Min¬ 
nesota) : I don’t think I have anything this evening, Mr. Presi¬ 
dent, that would be of interest. 

Vice President Lovell: Mr. Bean, how is it on your ter¬ 
ritory ? 

Mr. S. L. Bean (Master Mechanic, Northern Pacific Ry.) : 
Mr. Goodell made some remarks about the amount of fuel burned 
by locomotives. I could only refer to one class of our engines called 
D- 5 , about 90 , 000 —I think 93,000 pounds on the drivers. I 
don’t remember just the figures, but I know the showing is re¬ 
markably good. For instance, the average train tons has been 
1 , 300 , at an expense of $10 per 10,000 ton miles. That is the 
average, and I think Mr. Goodell gave the figures. 

Vice President Lovell : The rate you gave is based on coal 
at $3 per-ton, is it not? 

Mr. Bean: Yes, sir. Somewhere like 20 or 21 miles to the 
ton, the mileage. 1 


16 


Mr. Goodell : Mr. President, in the paper under discussion, 
I noticed that the writer quotes results of test made on the Balti¬ 
more & Ohio railroad—traction test, I should have said—in which 
a tractive co-efficient of 30.8 per cent was found with the electric 
locomotive, while the tractive co-efficient of axle and drawbar pull 
of 20.6 per cent of the weight on drivers was found with the steam 
locomotive. I can understand how there might be a greater draw¬ 
bar pull with the same weight on drivers with the electric locomo¬ 
tive, on account of the uniform torque of the motors, than with 
the steam locomotive, on account of the varying rotative effort of 
the stroke of the rods on the pins, but this difference seems to be 
very large, and I would like to ask Mr. Burch if the steam loco¬ 
motive which was tested had cylinder capacity enough to utilize 
all of the adhesion ? 

Mr. Burch : I am not authority for this test, which was taken 
from the data published by the Baltimore & Ohio engineers, but I 
would suppose they would take that into consideration. An unfair 
comparison between steam and electric locomotives would not be 
made, especially where steam railway men are making the test. 
The data has been published, and I have every reason to believe 
it to be correct. 

Mr. Goodell: I would say that weight on drivers alone is 
not the only consideration in comparisons of this kind, and it is 
highly important that the steam locomotive used in making the 
comparison should have cylinder power sufficient to utilize all 
of the adhesion. The portion of the report given here does not 
show that that was the case, and I mentioned it thinking that pos¬ 
sibly the steam locomotive was under-cylindered. 

Vice President Lovell: Twenty per cent of weight on 
drivers seems to be rather a small proportion of drawbar pull for 
the steam locomotive on a good rail, without sand. It is well 
known that with sand we often get considerably more than that, 
more than 25 per cent, and without sand, there are many cases 
where loads are pulled in which the drawbar pull is more than 20 
per cent. 

Has anyone else got any information on that point ? Mr. Van 
Alstine, can you give us some information in reference to that ? 


17 


Mr. D. Van Aestine (Master Mechanic, Chicago Great West¬ 
ern By.) : I only received my copy this afternoon, and I have 
not had time to read the paper even. I believe that it would be a 
good plan if this discussion were postponed for another month, 
so that we would have some time to study the figures and the paper. 

Vice President Lovele: 'For my own information, I would 
like to ask Mr. Burch for an explanation of these percentages on 
page 29 of the report. I do not quite understand them. I do not 
know, it may be my own fault. You say, “By using cheap fuels, 
saving of 20 per cent to 10 per cent/’ as I understand it; “by 
heating the feed water, etc., 10 per cent/’ ‘fin locomotive boiler 
economy, 33 per cent to 20 per cent.” Doesn’t that refer to sav¬ 
ing in the cost of fuel for each case ? 

Mr. Burch: Yes. I might explain a little. Take the first 
item, “using cheap fuels.” You can’t use cheap fuel on a locomo¬ 
tive to good advantage. You can’t use lignite, but you can use 
lignite in the power station. We will assume that you could save 
10 per cent in the cost of fuel used under the locomotive at the 
central power station. This would be in the ratio of 100 to 90. 
Yow, if you place .90 opposite the 10, .90 opposite the next 10, .80 
opposite the next 20, and so on, the product, .9x.9x.8x.95x.95 
x .95 x .75 x .95 x .90, will give you .35. You see the result is a 
product. If you add the savings, you get nearly 100 per cent,, 
which, on the face of it, might appear peculiar. Suppose there* 
were only .two savings—saving by cheap fuel of 10 per cent, and 
saving by heating feed water to 212 degrees, of 10 per cent. In 
one case we have .9 and in the next case .9, and the product .81. 
The saving would be 19 per cent, instead of 20 per cent. Carry¬ 
ing it through thus, we have 65 per cent for the total saving of 
central station over the steam locomotive. 

Vice President Lovele: Any further remarks on this sub- 
ject ? 

Mr. Van Alstine: I would like to ask Mr. Burch what is 
considered a good boiler performance for a central power station ? 


18 


Me. Buech : A good record of boilers at street railway power 
stations, using good coal, as recorded in the Street Bailway Be- 
view, month after month, would be 10 pounds of water per pound 
of bituminous coal. Thirteen pounds is about the maximum. 

Me. Van Alstine : That is with a high grade of coal. 

Me. Buech: Yes; the same as you would use in common 
locomotive service, $3 per ton. 

Vice Peesident Lovell: It may not be perfectly proper for 
the chairman to make remarks on the discussion, but I would like 
to say one word in regard to fuel; in regard to the amount of 
evaporation produced by good coal. Some three or four years ago 
I made some quite extensive tests on different kinds of coal for the 
Northern Pacific, on the central portion of their road, in sta¬ 
tionary boilers of the horizontal type, tubular boilers, and in mogul 
locomotives in heavy freight service, and also on consolidation en¬ 
gines in freight service on mountain grades. The moguls were 
not on the mountain grade, but on the river grade. And it was 
very hard work; the engines were loaded as heavily as they would 
haul; the run was 115 miles on a continuous uphill pull, with¬ 
out any down-grades whatever, so that the fire-boxes were worked 
to their maximum capacity at all times. We had various kinds 
of Eastern coal, from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, as well 
as the various kinds of Montana coals, and the mogul engines, 
under that extremely hard service, evaporated from perhaps about 
5 % pounds of water with some of the mountain coals up to over 8 
pounds with some of the best Eastern coals. So that it seems to 
me that Mr. Burch’s figures for evaporation are rather low—I am 
speaking now of evaporation from 212 degrees. On those engines 
with good Eastern coal, we could easily evaporate from 7 to 8 
pounds; that is, with good Eastern bituminous coal. And the sta¬ 
tionary boiler did not do any better. In some cases it did a little 
better and in some cases not so well. It is true that it was not a 
modern boiler plant; it was a boiler of the common type of tubular 
boilers. 

Me. Buech : Bather to my surprise, the discussion seems to 
turn to the relative economy of coal in central stations and on 


19 


locomotives. Reports from the Northern Pacific railway, with the 
very best class of freight engines, show from 900 to 1,300 pounds 
per 10,000 ton miles. This is a very good data, and we are glad 
to receive it. The Interstate and State Commerce annual reports 
give us some very interesting data on this subject. They get the 
total ton miles carried by the different roads fairly accurate, then 
they get the total number of pounds of coal used by the roads in 
the same year, from which we can obtain without trouble, by 
simple division, the number of nounds of coal per 10,000 ton miles 
in freight service. For the Northwestern roads this runs about 
2,400 pounds of coal per 10,000 ton miles, or over twice as much— 
nearly three times as much as the best figures given tonight. 
That, of course, is due in part to the poor work done by switching 
locomotives, and perhaps due to the poor work done by some of the 
older engines. So that, in general, I hold to my original figures 
as given, and have used them in a conservative estimate, with most 
reliable and practical data, to obtain an average and safe basis or 
figure on the pounds of coal required per horse-power hour in 
freight service (5.0) and in passenger service (3.6). Passing the 
question of use of coal, the matter of water power is to be con¬ 
sidered, where the steam roads have them along their road. . 

The question of evaporation, referred to by the President, is 
very interesting. I think the data was not comparable, for this 
reason, that a test was made on moguls in heavy, steady service, 
and compared with boilers in a small station. The tubular boilers 
did not have the benefit of stokers and every appliance by which 
the economy of evaporation could be raised to a maximum. As is 
well-known, in large central stations, 10 pounds of water per pound 
of coal is extremely common. Modern statistics show us better re¬ 
sults, in everyday practice. 

In the matter of the actual development in freight service, I 
may say that there is very little to show. Very few steam roads 
have adopted electric locomotives. I would clearly bring out, how¬ 
ever, that the paper was an argument for the adoption of electric 
traction, especially for freight work. If we had an immense 
amount of operating data, there would be no necessity for such a 
paper. Some things seem quite evident on the face of them, and 


20 


I hoped to bring out an argument which would prove that in 
the matter of economy, electric traction has advantages. I think 
we will, as the matter develops, show this on a large scale in a 
few years. 

Summing up the whole matter, we have electric traction placed 
before us as a matter of economy. If, by spending a large sum 
for electrical equipment, the interest on that additional equipment, 
plus the operating expense, are a minimum, than we have the 
matter well presented for commercial consideration. I believe 
it is more or less the duty of the steam railway men to get posted on 
the subject of heavy electric traction—(not street railway work; 
we are not interested in that)—but the economy of large central 
stations, alternating current, distribution and induction motor 
work. It is on the superintendents of motive power and the steam 
railway engineers that the officers of our railroads must depend 
for advice and assistance in the financial questions. 

Prof. J. J. Feather (University of Minnesota) : I think it 
would be a very good idea, indeed, if the discussion on this sub¬ 
ject be postponed for another month. I had intended to make 
some remarks on the paper, but have not had time to go into it 
thoroughly. It is certainly one which we ought not to pass over 
slightly. I think the author has done a more than creditable 
scholarly piece of work, one that will appeal to us from many 
points of view. In heavy freight service, it is true, as the gentle¬ 
man just said, that we do not find many electric locomotives, but 
this is not the fault of the argument. There are a great many 
points in this paper that I think we might take up more in detail 
than has been done. Simply discussing the amount of water evap¬ 
orated per pound of coal does not tell us very much about it. The 
present method of balancing locomotives for heavy service is one 
that we know is inefficient, and how are we going to better it? 
ISTow, it seems as though some such suggestions as have been made 
by the author and by the advocates of electric traction, must give 
us food for thought, at least, and cause us to ask whether that 
is not the desirable thing to do, use electric locomotives for this 
service. There are several other points that should receive con¬ 
sideration. I would, therefore, be very glad if the discussion could 


21 


he held over until the next meeting. Possibly others here would be 
glad to have more time to carefully read the paper and may desire 
to discuss it at a future meeting. 

Mr. Van Alstine: Mr. President, I move that the dis¬ 
cussion on this subject be continued to the next meeting. 

Motion seconded. 

Vice President Lovele: It has been moved and seconded 
that we further discuss this subject at the March meeting. All 
those in favor of the motion signify in the usual manner. Con¬ 
trary-minded ? The motion is carried. 

The next in order will be a paper by Mr. James Casey, air 
brake inspector of the Soo Line, on “Lubrication of Locomotive 
Valves and Cylinders.” 

LUBRICATION OF LOCOMOTIVE VALVES AND 
CYLINDERS. 

BY JAMES CASEY, AIR BRAKE INSPECTOR, SOO LINE. 

The Hydrostatic Sight-Feed Lubricator Applied to Locomotive 
Engines. 

The ability of this device to deliver the oil to its connections 
at the tallow pipes is undisputed, but its ability to deliver the oil 
to the parts of the locomotive requiring it, through the tallow 
pipe connections, varying in length from 20 to 40 feet, has been 
a much-mooted question, and certainly has been anything but sat¬ 
isfactory to the engineer. The engineer observes the drops of oil 
feeding regularly through the sight-feed glasses, but the lever com¬ 
mences rattling, or the valves are groaning for oil, and he reaches 
for the feeders on the lubricator, open them wider, and has to 
ease off on the throttle to permit the oil to flow to the valves. 
This results in flushing the valves and cylinders with oil, the 
greater portion of which makes its exit from the smoke stack. 
There is often palpable evidence of this on the light-colored gar¬ 
ments of the summer tourist who gets the benefit of the oil while 
standing on the depot platform watching the train pull out. Or, 


22 


the evidence may sometimes be found on the superintendent s white 
hat, and the engineer’s intelligence is at once called into question 
by the white-hat official, who reports him to the master mechanic, 
as being a “high-water man.” A close analysis of these spots has 
shown them to be something thicker than water. Cut cylinders, 
cut valves and seats, broken valve yokes, sprung rocker arms, and 
the frequent report of “valves not square,” are found at the round¬ 
houses and machine shops, where the above occurs. 

The Hydrostatic Sight-Feed Lubricator Applied to a Station¬ 
ary Engine, Compared with one Applied to a Locomotive Engine. 

On the stationary engine, the steam supply at the condenser 
tube and the oil discharge arm, are both connected to the steam 
pipe on the boiler side of the engine throttle. Closing the throttle, 
therefore, does not affect the steam pressure at either end of the 
lubricator, and the lubricator feeds steadily, whether the throttle 
is open or closed. Change the connections; leave the condenser 
tube at the boiler side of the throttle, but move the oil discharge 
arm of the lubricator to the engine side of the throttle (straddling 
the throttle). As long as the throttle is open the lubricator will 
feed steadily. On closing the throttle the pressure is removed 
from the oil discharge arm, but leaves the pressure on the con¬ 
denser end. The lubricator immediately starts “racing,” and 
will soon empty itself. These are the conditions we have to con¬ 
tend with on the locomotive. 

Owing to the varying pressure in the steam chest and at the 
discharge ends of the lubricator, it was necessary to restrict the 
opening between the discharge arm of the lubricator and its tal¬ 
low pipe connections, in order to maintain the proper balance at 
the lubricator. Numerous experiments were necessary to demon¬ 
strate the fact that the, small opening was a detriment to the de¬ 
livering function of the lubricator, that the oil was held up in the 
tallow pipes, and that the commencement of the hold-up took place 
when the working pressure in the steam chest was at or above 60 
per cent of the pressure carried in the boiler, seemingly due to an 
insufficient supply of steam from the lubricator to force the oil 
down. Other experiments have been made, such as removing the 
choke feed and enlarging the equalizing pipes and cavity through 


23 


the lubricator to the full area of the tallow pipes (3-8 in.), and 
applying a steam supply pipe from the boiler with an area equal 
to that of both equalizing pipes. The results of these experi¬ 
ments have proved most satisfactory, the oil being delivered to 
the chest about as regularly as it was fed from the lubricator, 
under any position of the lever and with a wide-open throttle, re¬ 
gardless of the steam pressure carried. The downward movement 
of the oil in the tallow pipes is influenced by the movement of the 
steam in the chest and accelerated by a full pressure of steam 
from the lubricator. 

It would naturally follow as a result of such experiments that 
the old type of permanent choke feed would give way to the ad¬ 
justable type, which should be constructed of differential area with 
the larger area towards the chest pressure and the smaller toward 
the lubricator pressure. It should open automatically from the 
restricted or choke opening to an opening the full area of the 
tallow pipes when the pressure in the steam chest is at or above 
60 per cent of the boiler pressure. It should remain open and not 
be acted upon by the pulsations in the chest, but should allow the 
pulsating movement of the steam in the chest to draw from the 
tallow pipes. When the working pressure in the steam chest has 
been reduced below 60 per cent of the boiler pressure, the device 
should close, leaving only a restricted opening sufficient to main¬ 
tain the balance of the lubricator. The balance of the lubricator 
should be held at the steam chest by placing the device at that 
point. This will prevent a rush of steam from the chest up the 
tallow pipes, when the engine throttle is pulled open and permits 
an immediate delivery of the oil to the valves. 

It has been a question in the mind of the writer whether the 
valves and the cylinders have received a sufficient amount of oil, 
or whether the various troubles were caused by injudicious devices, 
which did not deliver the oil to the valves and cylinders when 
it was most needed. 

Vice President Lovele: Gentlemen, you have heard the 
paper read. I think it would be well to have a little discussion 
on it before we proceed to the next paper. Has anyone any 
remarks to make? Lubrication is a vital point that all motive 


24 


power men, engineers, or anyone connected with locomotives m 
any way, ought to be interested in. I think we ought to draw 
out some discussion on this. I am sorry that Mr. Dyer is not 
here with us tonight to give us a few pointers. 

Me. Horton: It seems to me that this is a subject in which 
all of our mechanical men are deeply interested. I know it is 
so with us, for the reason that our valves are more or less im¬ 
perfectly lubricated; we have large cylinders, large areas to 
spread the oil over. We are having some bother with valves cut¬ 
ting, eccentrics breaking, valve yokes springing, and it seems to 
me that it is a subject that could be talked over, and that we 
could derive a great deal of benefit from the discussion. Our 
compound engines are oiled very nicely on the low pressure side, 
but when it comes to the high pressure side, we have found only 
one or two devices that will distribute the oil in the steam chest 
when the engine is working with a wide-open throttle and a full 
pressure of steam. One of these devices is the Michigan lubricator, 
which has got a plug with a ball on top of the steam chest, with a 
pipe of a full opening, as perhaps you have all seen, from the 
lubricator down, and I have not known of a case on any of the 
engines so equipped where the oil was not properly carried to the 
steam chest. Another device is an adjustable valve—differential 
piston valve, I believe—that Mr. Casey has put on some of our 
engines. I have not known of a case where that has been put on of 
late, since it has been perfected, but what it has done the work 
that it is put on for; that is, to avoid the hold-up of the oil. I 
think that Mr. Casey has presented us with a very fine paper for 
discussion, and I hope the members would not be backward. This 
is a place to discuss all such questions as this, and to discuss them 
with freedom. We are not here to criticise, we are here to discuss, 
and I for one would like very much to get some information in 
regard to lubricating these valves. 

Vice President Loveei.: Any one else got any remarks on 
lubrication ? 

Mr. R. P. Blake (Northern Pacific Ry.) : I had a case come 
to my attention not long ago, about the matter of lubricating cylin- 


25 


clers and slide valves. It rather surprised me. The engines un¬ 
der consideration were simple engines, with high pressure steam, 
200 pounds, and they had been lubricated in the old manner, by 
admitting the steam to the steam chest above the pressure plate, 
and letting the steam get down to the cylinder the best way it could. 
And the engines were very similar to ones just spoken of, whenever 
you moved the lever it went down in the corner, one or the other, 
it didn’t make much difference; it was always the wrong way. 
It was very hard to handle them. I saw these engines lately, after 
the oil pipe connection had been changed, and it put the oil down 
on top of the valve, through the balance plate, and they were not 
using any more oil. And it seems to me that this is a point,—it is 
not only getting the oil down into the steam chest, but down on the 
Talve where it will do some good. When the oil gets down on the 
pressure plate, it probably blows in with the steam, and probably 
oils but a small part of the valve. There is a good deal of it that 
gets down into the cylinders and doesn’t do much good to the valve. 

Mr. Horton : I would like to ask the gentleman how he gets 
the oil down onto the valve with the balanced valve in place of 
having it go down at each side ? i 

Mr. Blake: This valve in question is what is known as the 
American Balanced Valve, with the two rings, and I believe that 
the oil was fed between the two rings. There was an open space 
between the two rings something like one-half inch or three-fourths 
inch. 

Vice President Lovell: Has any one else any remarks? 
Has any one noticed any greater difficulty lubricating valves where 
the oil is admitted into the cylinder saddles,—the live steam passa¬ 
ges in the cylinder saddles ? That is done quite frequently. If 
it can be admitted there and still be carried to the valves, I do not 
see very much gain by admitting it on top of the pressure plate. 
It has always been my view that oil, when intermixed with the 
high pressure steam, was so thoroughly sprayed with the steam, 
that it would not collect anywhere, at one particular point. 

Mr. Bean : I have to endorse the gentleman’s remark on the 
Michigan cup. Of late, we have had no trouble, no complaints of 


26 


high pressure engines, a number of which have the oil pipes con¬ 
nected with the saddle, and so far as we can discover, they are 
working very satisfactorily. I think as an evidence, on the dis¬ 
trict that I have, our average mileage is about 250,000 per month, 
and the cost for a month to oil valves and engines has run the last 
four months from $1.25 to $1.35 a thousand miles per engine, and 
we have had no cut valves nor failures from sprung valve yokes. 

Vice President Lovele: If there are no further remarks 
on this paper, we will pass along to the next subject. The next 
in order will be a paper by Prof. George D. Shepardson, on “The 
Principles of the Dynamo.” 


THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OE THE DYNAMO. 

BY GEORGE D. SHEPARDSON, U. OF M. 

The railways are now using electricity to so large an extent,, 
that practically every railroad man must come into more or less 
frequent contact with its various uses. From almost the begin¬ 
ning of railways, the electric telegraph alone has made possible 
the efficient and safe handling of trains on long lines. In the last 
fifteen years other uses of electric power have been adopted by the 
railways, and now it is a favorite source of power for driving shops, 
turn tables and bridges, and it seems as if the time were not very 
far away when the electric locomotive would be as common as the 
steam locomotive. Almost every railroad man, therefore, may 
have to do with electricity in some application, and it is natural 
that he should desire to know something of the fundamental prin¬ 
ciples which govern its operation. The invitation to prepare for 
this Club a paper on the elementary principles of the dynamo 
was therefore accepted in the belief that a simple discussion of 
the general principles would be worth the effort. 

The admirable paper read at the last meeting and discussed this 
evening, considered one of the growing applications of electric 
power. This paper will consider in a more elementary way the 
dynamo electric machine, which transforms the mechanical power 
of a steam engine or a water-wheel into electrical power. It is 


27 


not to be expected tbat by a short paper yon will be fully initiated 
into all the mysteries of this subject, yet, as the author of the pre¬ 
ceding paper formerly struggled over these subjects as one of my 
pupils, it may not be out of order to hope that in time others 
also who hear me may become equally eminent electric railway 
engineers. 

The industrial and engineering applications of electricity cover 
so wide a field and have been developed to such degrees of refine¬ 
ment, that close study for years would be required for their com¬ 
plete understanding. Indeed, so rapidly are the theory and appli¬ 
cations developing, that no one person, even with the best prepara¬ 
tion, can hope to keep thoroughly acquainted with the whole field. 
One may attain and maintain a general knowledge of all, but he 
must specialize and confine his main attention to a narrower and 
narrowing line if he would keep in the front rank. 

The commercial development of the electric light and the elec¬ 
tric motor was rendered possible only by the development of the dy¬ 
namo into an efficient and reliable machine. Indeed, the first arc * 
light and the first experimental electric railways were made before 
the dynamo was developed, and they failed largely because 
of the excessive cost of electric power as developed from the pri¬ 
mary chemical battery. The dynamo has reached an efficiency 
as high as 97 per cent for large sizes; it is durable, gives little 
trouble, and can be made in any size required. The only limit 
to the possible size of a dynamo is the limiting dimensions of the 
railway bridges and tunnels, and machines can be designed for 
shipment in small sections to overcome even these limitations. A 
complete discussion of the design, construction and operation of 
the dynamo electric machine would require a large volume and 
months of hard study. Indeed, there remain many problems yet 
unsolved. In general terms its action may be explained by con¬ 
sidering three simple laws upon which hang nearly all electrical 
phenomena: (A) The law of the electric circuit, (B) The law 
of induction, and (C) The law of the magnetic circuit. 

The law of the electric circuit, announced by Geo. Simon Ohm 
in 1827, and always known as Ohm’s law, simply applies to elec¬ 
trical phenomena the general law of nature, that the result equals 


28 


the cause divided by the resistance. The current, flowing in a 
circuit, equals the electromotive force divided by the resistance, or, 
using common units, the amperes of current equal the volts of elec¬ 
tromotive force divided by the ohms of resistance. For example, 
an incandescent lamp having a resistance of 200 ohms when hot, 
takes a current of 0.55 amperes when connected across a 110 volt 
circuit. It is clear that if any two of the three quantities are 
known, the other may be found by a simple arithmetical process. 
Thus, if it is desired to send a current of 0.55 amperes through an 
incandescent lamp whose resistance is 200 ohms, an electromotive 
force of 110 volts will be required. Or, if the current is 0.55 am¬ 
peres when the electromotive force is 110 volts, the resistance of 
the lamp is known to be 200 ohms. 

Ohm’s law applies to the whole of a circuit and to any part of 
it, provided one takes the corresponding values. When the parts 
of the circuit are in series, as is the case of a telegraph line in 
which all the instruments are in one circuit, so that the same cur¬ 
rent passes through each one in succession, the total resistance is 
the sum of the resistances of the various instruments and of the 
line wire. When the parts of the circuit are connected in multi¬ 
ple, like the incandescent lamps, each part takes its own current 
independently of the others, the electromotive force being kept 
constant. When the parts are in multiple, the resistance of the 
whole is less than that of one part, and the current is the sum of 
the currents in the parts. (The latter is apparently not true with 
alternating currents, for in some cases the current in each of the 
several branches may be greater than the current in the main 
circuit, yet even in such a case the instantaneous values are such 
that the whole equals the sum of the parts.) Multiple electric cir¬ 
cuits have a somewhat close analogy in the air brakes of a train; 
each car takes its own air independently of the others, and the 
amount of air taken by the train is practically equal to that taken 
by one car multiplied by the number of cars. The drop of pres¬ 
sure in the train pipe is proportional to the number of cars and 
to the length of the train, and is inversely proportional to the size 
of the train pipe. In a similar way, the amount of current taken 
by an incandescent lamp circuit depends upon the number of 


/ 


29 


lamps and also upon the size of the lamps; and the drop in pres¬ 
sure along the line depends upon the number of lamps using cur¬ 
rent, the amount of current taken by each lamp, and upon the 
length and diameter of the lead wires. 

The laws of induction and of the magnetic circuit are so closely 
related that they may be considered together. There is an inti¬ 
mate relation between electricity and magnetism. Every current 
is surrounded by a magnetic field of force. When the current is 
in a straight wire, unaffected by other currents or magnetic fields, 
the magnetic forces are in concentric circles around the wire, as 
shown in Fig. 1, which was taken from a photograph of iron filings 
scattered on a sheet of paper and gathered into more or less distinct 
circles by the magnetic forces. The magnetic force around a wire 
varies inversely as the distance from the wire. When the wire is 
brought back so as to form a loop, the force between the wires is 
the sum of their separate forces, and the field is stronger, as is 
shown by the better defined lines in Fig. 2. When the current 
flows through a conductor wound in a helix or coil, as shown in 
Fig. 3, the forces around each part unite to form a common field 
of comparatively great intensity through their center. The total 
strength of the magnetic field is proportional to the number of 
turns of the wire and to the current flowing. In other words, it 
is proportional to their product, the ampere turns. The amount 
of magnetism resulting from the magnetomotive force, de¬ 
pends not only upon the ampere turns, but also upon the 
reluctance, that is,, upon the materials and dimensions of the path 
of the magnetic lines of force. Iron makes a much better path 
than air, its “permeability” being sometimes as much as 2,000 
times that of air, varying with the quality of the iron and with 
the intensity of the magnetization. The magnetic circuits of dyna¬ 
mos, motors, and most electrical apparatus are, therefore, construct¬ 
ed principally of iron, as illustrated by the Edison dynamo, Fig. 4. 
The shorter the length and the greater the section of the magnetic 
circuit, the more lines of force will be caused by a given number 
of ampere turns. There is a rather close analogy between the 
law for the magnetic circuit and that for the electric circuit. In 
one case the current equals the electromotive force divided by the 


30 


resistance, in the other case the magnetic flux equals the magneto¬ 
motive force divided by the reluctance of the magnetic circuit. 
The electrical resistance of a circuit is proportional to the length 
of the circuit and inversely proportional to the section and the 
specific conductivity of the substance; the magnetic reluctance is 
proportional to the length of the magnetic circuit and inversely 
proportional to its cross section and to the permeability of the 
substance. The magnetic circuit may be composed of a number 
of parts, in which case the total reluctance equals the sum of the 
separate reluctance in series. The magnetic flux is generally ex¬ 
pressed in units of lines of force, and may be determined by the 
simple law, 

N = 1.257 w lAj^= 1.257 w I p; 

or, the number of lines of force equals the constant 1.257 times 
the number of turns in the magnetizing coil times the amperes 
flowing in the same, multiplied by the reluctance of the magnetic 
circuit, that is, by the summation of the product of area by 
permeability divided by the length of the several parts, areas and 
lengths being measured in centimeters. The number of magnetic 
lines of force through a circuit may therefore be varied by changing 
any or all of these factors. 

The third law involved in the operation of the dynamo is the 
law of induction. Many phenomena in nature are reversible. If 
a certain action produces a definite result, then in many cases the 
result may to some extent reproduce the cause. A steam engine 
will work fairly well as a pump, and a pump will work as an 
engine. Since current produces magnetism, should not magnet¬ 
ism produce currents ? It does under certain conditions. Any 
change in the strength of direction of a current causes a corre¬ 
sponding change in the magnetic field about it. Conversely, any 
change in the magnetic field about a wire causes a tendency for a 
current to flow. Such a tendency is called an electromotive force, 
often abbreviated to E. M. F., and if the electrical circuit is com¬ 
plete, a current will flow. It is not necessary for the magnetic 
field to change, for an E. M. F. is caused by moving a wire in or 
through a magnetic field. Either the wire or the magnetic field 




31 


may change, and one may think of the E. M. E. as being caused 
by the lines of magnetic force crossing or “cutting” the wires, or 
as being caused by the change in the number of lines enclosed by 
or surrounding the electrical circuit. In some cases it is more con¬ 
venient to think of the rate of cutting, in other cases it is more con¬ 
venient to think of the rate of change in the number of lines 
enclosed. The formula for calculating the induced E. M. F. may 

therefore be taken as the number of turns of wire, w, in the circuit 

d N 

multiplied by the rate of change, -qp— in the number of lines en¬ 
closed ; or, the induced E. M. E. equals the product of the number 
of turns, w, by the number of lines of force, hi, by the number of 
times per second, V, the lines are cut in and out of the circuit. 
These may be expressed in the equation, 

d N TT AT 
E = w —r— = wYN. 
d t 

This formula gives the E. M. E. in “C. G. S.,” or absolute 
units; to give volts, the second member of the equation should be 
divided by 100,000,000. 

The E. M. F. in an actual dynamo is caused in either of the 
ways mentioned above. Generally the magnetic field is constant 
and the E. M. F. is induced by the motion of the wires on the 
armature. The elementary case is indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, 
the former showing the complete magnetic circuit and the mag¬ 
netizing coils, the latter showing in an elementary way the method 
of generating E. M. E. Imagine a wire bent into a loop and ro¬ 
tating between the poles of a magnet; the part moving downward 
past the north pole has an E. M. E. induced which tends to send 
current to the left or toward the observer; if the two sides are 
connected as one wire with terminals at one side, the E. M. E’s 
are cumulative and tend to send current in the same direction 
through the wire. The E. M. E. could be multiplied by making 
the coil consist of a number of turns instead of the one turn shown 
in the figure. This revolving loop, when developed, is what is 
known as the “armature” of the dynamo; the space between the 
pole-pieces is no longer left open, but is filled with a “core” of 
iron discs keyed to the shaft and upon which the armature wires, 
the inducing wires, are fastened. 


32 


We next inquire about the sort of E. M. E. induced by suck 
a rotating loop. If the magnetic field between the magnet poles 
were nearly uniform, it may be seen that the wires cross or “cut’ 
the lines of force rapidly when in the position shown, but when 
the wires have notated through a quarter revolution, they would 
be moving parallel to the magnetic lines and would not be cutting 
them at all. The E. M. F. would thus be great when the wires 
were in the position shown, would be zero after rotating a quarter 
revolution, would again be great but in the opposite direction after 
a half revolution, and so forth. If the magnetic field is uniform, 
then between the points noted the E. M. F. rises and falls according 
to what is known as a “sine curve” passing through zero twice in 
each revolution. Fig. 6 shows a complete cycle or two alternations 
of the E. M. F. generated in a revolving loop such as shown in 
Fig. 5, and is very similar to the changes of E. H. F. of the alter¬ 
nating currents commonly used for lighting and power. 

Since the E. M. F.'rises, falls and reverses, it follows that 
similar changes will occur in the resulting current. In practice, 
the alternating currents commonly used alternate at the rate of 
from 25 to 140 complete cycles per second. To secure these high 
frequencies, it is necessary to change the design of the alternating 
dynamo from the simple two-pole affair shown in Figs. 4 and 5, 
and to use a number of poles and a number of armature coils. Fig. 
7 shows one of the coils and also the complete armature of an excel¬ 
lent alternator formerly made at Eau Claire, Wis. Fig. 8 shows 
the complete machine, with stationary multipolar field frame and 
revolving armature. The small machine at the left is known as 
the “exciter,” and it supplies the direct current necessary for ex¬ 
citing the field magnets of the alternator. In some alternating 
current generators, the E. M. F. is caused not by the motion of 
the armature wires in the magnetic field, but by increasing and de¬ 
creasing the magnetism through the stationary armature coils. In 
these alternators, often called “inductor alternators,” the field 
magnet coil is often stationary, the magnetism through the 
coils being caused to pulsate as the projecting horns of a rotor 
move past. Figs. 9 and 11 show an inductor alternator of excel¬ 
lent performance made by the Electric Machinery Company of' 


ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PRINCIPLES OF DYNAMO, 


Law of Electric Circuits. 1=5; E=IR; R=5- 

R 1 

dN 

Law of Induction. E=w-r-=V w N. 

dt 

A 

Law of Magnetic Circuit. N=1.257 wl^——=1.257 w I p. 



Fig. 2. Lines of^Force in Loop. 



34 



Fig. 3. Lines of Force in Coil. 



shunt dynamo 

Fig. 4. Magnetic Circuit of Edison Dynamo. 






































35 



COLLECTJNCr OF 

ARMATURE G URRFNT. 

Fig. 5. Loop in Field. 



S/A/£ CURVE 


THROUGH OA/E CYCLE. 

Fig. 6. Sine Curve. 



Fig. 7. Armature of National Alternator. 

























Fig. 8. National Alternator. 



Fig. 9. Electric Machinery Alternator 



37 



Fig. 10. Rotor of E. M. Co. Alternator. 



Fig. 11. Alternator with Exciter Dynamo. 



Fig. 12. Ring Armature and Commutator. 


tQU»i '1 / 























































































38 


\ 



Fig. 13. Coil of Direct Current Armature. 



Fig. 14. E. M. Co. Direct Current Armature 














VOLTS 



Ftg. 15. E. M. Co. Multipolar D. C. Generator. 



amper.es 


Fig. 16. Characteristic Curves of Dynamo. 




40 



Fig. 17. Bipolar Compound Dynamo. 


N. 


COMMUTATOR CONNECT/ON 5 0T 
BJPOLAR FUNG ARMATURE. 

Fig. 18. Multipolar Compound Dynamo. 















































41 



Fig. 19. Westinghouse Direct Connected Multipolar Dynamo. 


Fig. 20. 



Westinghouse Direct Connected Multipolar Dynamo. 























42 




Fig. 22. Gould System of Car Lighting. 







































4 3 



Fig. 23. Regulator of Cons. Ry. Elec. Light & Eq. Co. 



Fig. 24. Axle Lighting System of C. R. E. L. E. Co. 
















4 + 


ELECTRO 

MAGNETIC 

SWITCH. 



DYNAMO 


BATTERY. 

lamp resistance. 


lamps 


V/CARINO SYSTEM. 

Fig. 25. Vicarino Lighting System. 

























































45 


30 

24 

20 


y>/0 

<:o; 






LCf, 

»/* 

M 


e— 






! i 




r 


fir 





_ 


» y 









Pi 

y« 


■*W 

n 





— 




| 




^eo 

rrs 

H 




VI 

t. 



Or 

^ — 

t£< 

rr f 

it)S 




-5L 

4 


i 

~i ■ j 


La 

ntf 

' Ci 


to xo 2o. 

6.2. /rc 


*ff. 

a.r.3 


59 7 ° 

3C7 


So. 

Y?7 


5*>~0O 
300 0 
Z*>-(J0 
2,00 0 
/xoe 


/o o o 


fti\ Ci/rrehf 


to ° Km per. hx 
w Mi Us,. ... 


VICAKINO SYSTEM. 

Fig. 20. Vicarino Lighting System. 



a a_ i 5 0 ? s a 10 n is u 0Ur8 

Fig. 27. Storage Battery Voltage at Charge and Discharge. 
































































































































































































































































































46 


Minneapolis. Fig. 10 shows the rotor of the same machine. 
These machines, having no moving wire, are very durable and 
are suitable for high voltages. 

The alternating current has certain advantages for transmis¬ 
sion over long distances and for any power purposes where it is 
not necessary to stop and start the motors frequently. 

The alternating current developed in a single revolving loop, 
as outlined with Fig. 5, and in the alternators mentioned, is known 
as a “single-phase” current. By having a second set of armature 
coils midway between those of the first set, there is induced a second 
E. M. F., which is at a maximum when the first is at a minimum, 
and vice versa. These two currents are spoken of as being 90 de¬ 
grees apart, and the two, when carried by suitable circuits to mo¬ 
tors or other translating devices, are called “two-phase” or “quarter- 
phase” currents. Other alternators have three sets of armature 
coils spaced equally, so that their E. M. I ’s are 120 degrees apart, 
and these are known as “three-phase” machines and three-phase 
currents. Two-phase and three-phase systems, often called “poly¬ 
phase” systems, have a great advantage over the single phase in 
the operation of motors,' and are therefore used almost universally 
for power transmission to great distances. Even for distribution 
at short distances, they have the advantage over the continuous 
current, in that the motors are simpler in construction and require 
less care than direct current motors. For transmitting power to a 
distance, alternating currents have a great advantage over direct 
currents in the ease with which the power may be changed from 
a large current at small voltage to a small current at high voltage 
which can be carried over long distances with comparatively small 
loss,, and may then be changed back to large current at low voltage 
if so desired, these changes being made in stationary transformers 
of high efficiency and requiring no attendance. j 

For some purposes, it is desirable to have current that flows 
continuously in one direction, such as that obtained from a battery. 
For this purpose the collecting rings of the elementary dynamo 
are replaced by a commutator. In Fig. 5, imagine the two rings to 
be replaced by a tube cut in two equal parts which are insulated 
from one another, one half being connected with one end of the 



47 


rotating coil and the other half to the end of the coil. Then if the 
stationary brushes are placed in the right position, one brush will 
connect directly with one wire as it passes the north pole and will 
then connect with the other wire as it passes the same pole. Being 
connected with the two wires alternately as they pass the same 
pole, the current through the brush will not change direction, but 
will simply increase and decrease. If, now, there are a number 
of coils rotating in the same magnetic field, but spaced equally 
around the circle, the two-part commutator may be replaced by one 
having as many sections as there are coils, and the E. M. E. be¬ 
tween the two brushes will always he in the same direction and 
will not pulsate so much as with the single coil. The larger the 
number of coils and commutator sections, the less will the E. M. E. 
pulsate and the smoother will be the current. Eig. 12 shows a 
number of coils wound around an iron ring and suitably connected 
with the commutator and with one another. In some machines, 
the armature wires are wound around a hollow ring, being called 
Gramme armatures, while in others the wires are upon the surface 
of a drum. Eig. 13 shows two views of a single coil of a drum 
armature, and Eig. 14 shows the complete armature as made by 
the Electrical Machinery Company of Minneapolis. Eig. 16 shows 
one of their mulipolar dynamos, showing the common practice of 
making the larger machines with several pairs of poles, in order 
to decrease the necessary speed of rotation and to reduce the size 
and weight of machine. 

Let us next consider the regulation of the voltage and current 
delivered by the dynamo. Circuits fed by dynamos may be divided 
into two general classes, those which require the current to be kept 
constant and those which require a constant voltage. Arc light 
circuits, such as commonly used for lighting streets and similar 
areas, usually have the lamps connected in series, so that one cur¬ 
rent j)asses through all, and they require the current to be kept 
reasonably constant. Incandescent lamps and electric motors, on 
the other hand, are generally connected in multiple and require 
that the E. M. E. be kept constant, in order that each incandescent 
lamp may receive the proper and steady current and that the 
motors may take such current as is required by the load and also 


48 


may run at constant speed. For either condition, the demand 
upon the dynamo is that the E. M. F. shall be regulated. With 
series circuits, changes in resistance necessitate corresponding 
changes in the E. M. E. of the dynamo, if the current is to be kept 
constant. When the load on a multiple circuit changes, the E. M. 
E. at the terminals of the lamps or motors also changes to some 
extent. The wires leading from the dynamo to the lamps neces¬ 
sarily have some resistance, and there is a loss of voltage between 
the dynamo and the lamps equal to the product of resistance by 
current; therefore, if the E. M. E. at the lamps is to be kept con¬ 
stant, the E. M. E. of the dynamo must increase with the current 
to compensate for the greater loss on the line. But there are losses 
also in the dynamo itself; the armature necessarily has some re¬ 
sistance and the current thus loses more or less E. M. F. equal to 
the product of current by armature resistance. Therefore, even if 
the speed and the magnetic held were to remain constant, the E. 
M. E. at the terminals of the dynamo would fall oh to some extent 
as the current increased. Again, the ampere turns which set up 
the magnetic held through the held and armature, include not only 
the current through the held coils, hut also the current through 
the armature, some of whose turns are in a direction exactly op¬ 
posed to those of the held coils, while others tend to distort the 
direction of the magnetism; it follows, then, that as the current 
from the dynamo increases, the magnetic held tends to become 
weaker, and consequently the E. M. E. of the dynamo tends to 
become smaller, when it should become larger to offset the greater 
loss in the lines. In addition to the above causes, it sometimes 
occurs that the engine or other source of power does not run at con¬ 
stant speed, but slows down when the load increases, and thus adds 
still another element tending to lower the voltage at large loads. 
In other cases, the speed varies through wide ranges, as is the case 
with dynamos driven from car axles for the purpose of lighting 
the train. 

The general principles of regulation of dynamos are suggested 
by the formulae for the laws of induction and of the magnetic cir¬ 
cuit. Since the E. H. E. of the dynamo is dependent upon three 
factors,—the speed, the number of wires on the armature, and the 


49 


number of magnetic lines of force through the armature,—the prod¬ 
uct may he kept constant or may he varied at will hy changing any 
one or more of the factors. After a machine is once made, it is not 
practicable to change the actual number of wires on the armature, 
although the effective number may be changed; this is done in arc 
light machines, nearly all of which regulate in part or entirely 
by moving the brushes, so that the E. M. F’s in some of the arma¬ 
ture wires oppose the others; the method is suitable only for ma¬ 
chines with comparatively small currents and can be used only to 
a very limited extent with machines for incandescent lights or for 
power. In some cases it is possible to change the speed of the 
dynamo to suit the requirements, the speed being increased as the 
load increases or as it may be desirable to raise the voltage for any 
other reason; thus, in some central stations the engine speed is in¬ 
creased by adjusting the governor when the load becomes heavy; 
a similar regulation is obtained with the engine and dynamo out¬ 
fits used on the Pennsylvania limited trains, where a Brotherhood 
engine drives a plain shunt dynamo with no regulation except the 
throttle. The most common method of regulation is by changing 
the magnetic field. The fields of alternating current generators 
are generally supplied with current from a small direct current 
dynamo, and the exciting current can be regulated by an adjusta¬ 
ble resistance between the exciter and the alternator or by changing 
the E. M. F. of the exciter. Arc light dynamos generally have 
field coils wound with comparatively large wire which are con¬ 
nected in series with the armature so that all of the current passes 
through the field coils; in such a case the field is of constant 
strength and the regulation is effected entirely by shifting the 
brushes so as to change the effective number of wires on the arma¬ 
ture ; in some machines the field coils have a number of terminals 
so that part of the turns may be cut out, as was done in the Ex¬ 
celsior arc machines; in others, such as the Brush arc dynamo, 
an adjustable resistance is shunted around the field coils, so that 
the current divides in any desired ratio between the field coils 
and the shunted resistance. The Excelsior and the later Brush 
arc dynamos combine shifting the brushes and also shunting the 
field current, the combination securing an excellently close regu¬ 
lation for constant current. 


50 


Dynamos for generating current at constant voltage usually have 
the fields excited as indicated in Fig. 4, by a small current taken 
from the main circuit and passing through a coil of many turns of 
fine wire; these are known as shunt wound dynamos. The amount 
of current through the shunt field is governed by Ohm’s law and 
equals the E. M. F. at the terminals divided by the resistance of the 
shunt and of any regulator in series with it. Shunt machines 
generally have an adjustable resistance, known as a rheostat, in 
series with the shunt field coils, for the purpose of regulation. 
When it is desired to increase the voltage of the dynamo, some re¬ 
sistance is cut out from the rheostat; this allows more current to 
pass through the field coils, and so increases the magnetic field and 
thus increases the voltage of the dynamo; this again sends more 
current through the field and raises the voltage a little higher; one 
might expect this process would continue indefinitely; but prac¬ 
tically a limit is soon reached and the dynamo generates a steady 
E. M. F. somewhat higher than before. A similar reasoning shows 
also that if the E. M. F. of the armature drops on account of 
slower speed or weakening of the field by armature reaction or 
drop due to a larger current through the armature, less current 
will go through the shunt field coils and the E. M. F. will fall 
still further. To overcome this falling off, recourse is had to one 
of two expedients. Sometimes it is simpler to depend on hand 
regulation, adjusting the rheostat as occasion demands; but a more 
satisfactory method for most purposes is to supply the dynamo 
with an auxiliary set of field coils, through which the main current 
flows. The action of the series coils is shown in Fig. 16. The 
curve marked “series” shows how the E. M. E. of the dynamo 
would rise if the series coils alone were acting; as the iron retains 
some “residual” magnetism, a small E. M. F. is generated on open 
circuit, when no current flows through the circuit; if the circuit 
is closed through a suitable resistance, the initial E. M. E. will 
send a small current through the circuit, including the series field 
coils, and will strengthen the residual magnetic field, and in turn 
will increase the E. M. F. and the current, this cycle repeating 
itself until a balance is reached; if the resistance of the circuit is 
diminished so that more current flows, the series coils a«*ain in- 


51 


crease the magnetic field and the E. M. F. With the shunt ma¬ 
chine, on the other hand, the current through the field coils is 
independent of the main current and depends only on the E. M. F. 
and the resistance of the shunt field circuit; an increase of the 
main current causes an increased drop through the armature and 
also a weakening of the field by armature reaction, so that the 
E. M. F. at the brushes falls off as the main current increases, as 
indicated by the curve marked “shunt” in Fig. 16. Now, if the 
machine is supplied with both shunt and series field coils, the 
strengthening effect of the series coils may just compensate for 
the weakened effect of the shunt coils, so that the final E. M. F. 
of the dynamo is constant for any and all loss, or it may be ad¬ 
justed to rise with the current so as to offset the greater drop on 
the lines with larger current. A machine fitted with shunt 
and series magnetizing coils is called a compound machine, and it 
may be under-compounded or over-compounded, accordingly as the 
E. M. F. falls or rises with the load. Fig. 17 shows the circuits 
for a bi-polar compound dynamo. Fig. 18 shows the circuits of 
a six-pole compound Westinghouse dynamo, of the type generally 
used in baggage cars for train lighting, and may be compared with 
Figs. 19 and 20, reproduced from the paper in the Proceedings 
for May, 1900. Fig. 18 shows also an excellent multipolar dy¬ 
namo made in Minneapolis, bringing out more clearly the actual 
positions of the shunt and series magnet coils. 

For the purpose of supplying cars with electric lights, many 
different schemes have been tried, and a few have remained. Some' 
of them were outlined in a previous paper.* From an electrical 
standpoint, the simplest method is to place a steam engine in the 
baggage car and have this drive a compound dynamo, either by 
belt, as was done in the early practice of the Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paul Road, or by direct connection, as is generally prac¬ 
ticed. Examples of the latter are found in this section on the 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; on the Chicago and.North- 
Western; and on the Northern Pacific Railways. A somewhat 
similar plan is used on the Pennsylvania limited trains, on which 


^Proceedings North-West Railway Club, May, 1900. 



52 


a small three-cylinder Brotherhood engine drives a shunt dynamo 
which charges a storage battery during the day and helps carry part 
of the lights during the night, the voltage of this dynamo being 
regulated entirely by the speed of the engine as noted above. 
Another simple plan is for the train to carry storage battteries, 
which are charged at the terminals, as is practiced by the Chicago, 
Burlington and Quincy Railroad. 

In order to reduce the cost of attendance and also the demands 
upon the locomotive boiler, many attempts have been made to drive 
the dynamo directly from the car axle, automatic auxiliaries taking 
care of the regulation and minimizing the necessary attendance. 
The problems to be solved here are both electrical and mechanical. 
The first is the great range of speed encountered on railway trains, 
especially those in local service. The voltage at the lamps 
must be kept constant, while at the same time the speed 
may vary greatly. All of the axle lighting systems re¬ 
quire a storage battery as an auxiliary to operate the lamps 
when the train is standing or is running at slow speed. 
Many of them use two sets of batteries, one of which sup¬ 
plies the lamps with current while the other battery is being 
charged by the dynamo. A favorite plan is to have the dynamo 
arranged to generate a constant current at all speeds above the 
lower limit of say fifteen miles per hour, this current being divided 
between lighting the lamps and charging the batteries. The law 
of induction shows that with a given magnetic field, higher speed 
means higher E. M. F., and this involves an increase in the cur¬ 
rent delivered. Any tendency for the generation of a large current 
means the expenditure of more work upon the dynamo and a cor¬ 
respondingly greater pull on the belt or other transmitting device. 
The Stone system (figure 21), used largely in England, and the 
Gould system (figure 22), its American development, make use 
of this fact for their regulation, the belt slipping whenever the cur¬ 
rent tends to increase above a set amount. A similar plan was 
used on one car on the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean road, in 
which the dynamo pulley was pressed against the flange of the car 
wheel; later installations replace this by a belt drive. Regulation 


53 


of the current or voltage for varying speeds has been attacked in 
other ways. The law of induction shows that for constant voltage, 
the strength of the magnetic field should be decreased as the speed 
increases. A simple method of doing this is that developed by the 
Consolidated Railway Electric Lighting and Equipment Co., whose 
regulator is shown in Figure 23. The dynamo is a plain shunt 
machine, mounted on a car truck and driven by a belt from the car 
axle. The regulator consists essentially of a small motor which 
runs while the train is going above say fifteen miles per hour ; this 
motor, in connection with an electromagnet, adjusts the resistances 
in the shunt field circuit so as to maintain the current constant 
regardless of the train speed, cutting out automatically as the speed 
falls below the limit of about 15 m. p. h. An auxiliary resistance 
is used when the lamps are burning at the same time the battery 
is being charged. A somewhat similar method is used in the Dick 
system, used to some extent in Austria. Another method of securing 
constant voltage is by the use of a series field winding which op¬ 
poses the shunt winding. As the speed increases, the voltage and 
the current increase also; but the current passing through the series 
coil weakens the magnetic field and so tends to offset the higher 
speed. This method was formerly used in the Muskowitz system 
on the Santa Ee road, and is used on the Viearino system (Figure 
25) now being pushed in Europe. By care in watching the ad¬ 
justments, the voltage at the lamps may be kept constant within a 
narrow range, as shown in the flattering curve taken by the manu¬ 
facturers and reproduced in Figure 26. 

The great difficulty in using storage batteries and dynamos at 
the same time is the fact that the voltage necessary for charging 
a battery is greater than that delivered during the discharge of the 
battery, as shown in Fig. 27. This may be overcome to some ex¬ 
tent by placing a resistance between the dynamo and the lamps, 
so that the battery receives the full voltage of the dynamo, while the 
lamps are protected by a resistance which cuts down their voltage 
to the proper amount. This method is generally adopted, and such 
resistance may be seen in the diagram in Figure 25. The difficulty 
is only partly solved, however, by this device, for the drop of volt- 


54 


age through the resistance depends upon the amount of current 
passing; that is, upon the number of lamps in use. Again, the 
voltage required for charging the batteries gradually rises as they 
become more and more fully charged, so that the series resistance 
should be adjusted not only for the number of lamps in use, but 
also for the varying state of charge of the batteries. In the actual ap¬ 
plication of the axle lighting system to trains with regular runs, 
it is practicable to make such adjustments of resistances and of the 
dynamo that the battery will be nearly charged all of the time, 
and the fluctuations of charging voltage need not be excessive; in 
many cases the charging will be done during the day, when the 
lamps are not in service and when close adjustment is not required. 
Again, another point of difficulty in regulation appears in the fact 
that the voltage of the battery gradually becomes less as the battery 
becomes discharged; this involves a chance for a noticeable fluc¬ 
tuation in the voltage at the lamps when the dynamo is cut into 
service or cut out as the speed of the train passes the critical point. 
This point again yields in large measure to care in adjusting the 
machine for the regular run of the car. The upper curve in Fig¬ 
ure 26 shows how little this variation may be in practice, the 
voltage dropping from 31.8 to 31.2 volts at the instant when the 
dynamo was cut into service, and slowly rising to 31.6 as the speed 
rose to 100 kilometers (62 m. p. h.). From personal observation 
of several cars on the Santa Fe road, equipped with the later ap¬ 
paratus, I may say that on some cars it was absolutely impossible 
to tell when the dynamo was put into or out of service. In the 
worst case encountered the fluctuation was not over two volts, and 
it was not a sudden change even then, occupying quite a number of 
seconds. 

In closing, I may venture the remark that the lighting of trains 
by the dynamos driven from the car axle is one of the methods that 
will come into very general use. 

Vice President Lovell: I think the members all feel very 
thankful to Prof. Shepardson for his valuable paper. As our time 
has now expired for the evening, a motion to adjourn will now be 
in order. I want to remind the members that Mr. Burch’s paper 


55 


is to be discussed at tlie next meeting, and it is very desirable that 
each member read the article through and come prepared to take 
part in the discussion. I think it is a very important matter to 
railroads, and there is no question but that every railroad man 
has got to deal with electric appliances more and more as the 
years go by, and I think it is a very good time now for us to dis¬ 
cuss this matter thoroughly, so that I hope every one will come 
prepared to do so. 

On motion,, the meeting adjourned. 


List of Names Presented for Membership in the North-West 
Railway Club at February Meeting. 


Falkenberg, E., Roadmaster, Soo Line, Enderlin, N. D. 

Shults, F. K., Representative National Tube Company, R. R. Dept.. Western 
Union Building, Chicago. 



NEXT MEETING MARCH 12th, 1901, 


HOTEL RYAN, ST. PAUL. 


T. W. FLANNAGAN, Secretary 







x*l. KJ. x>. oiu. r mug, oize oxy, 


Railway Specialties 

— and — 

Special AV^cbipery. 


CHICACO. THE Q> and C * COMPANY, 

NEW YORK. 109 Endicott Arcade, ST. PAUL, MINN. 



OFFICIAL 

PROCEEDINGS 


MAY 

MEETING 

1900 


North=West 

Railway 

Club 


PAPERS PRESENTED: 

Train Lighting. 

Some Notes on Train Resistance. 


Next Meeting 
Sept. 11th, 
West Hotel, 
Minneapolis. 


_OFFICERS- 

President GEO D BROOKE, St. Paul, Minn . Master Mechanic, St. P. & D. R. R. 

First V?ce-Pres’t, S. F. FORBES, Jersey City, N J Asst. Supt. M.P C. R. R-ofKJ. 

Second Vice-Pres't. ALFRED LOVELL, St. Paul, Minn .;••£«*>*• M. P., N. P. Ry. 

Sec’v and Treas T. A. FOQUE, Minneapolis, Minn . Asst. Mech. Supt. Soo Line. 

Asst. Secretary, F. B. FARMER, St. Paul, Minn .. Westinghouse Air Brake Co. 

Volume V. Number 9. 


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£ ® 

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O O ©M 

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cj» 

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CD —I 
to m 


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CO ^ 


A| fiFRITF AND <T> KNOBBLED HAMMERED CHARCOAL IRON 
HLULIIIII. LOCOMOTIVE FLUES ARE 


GUARANTEED 


TO PASS A. R. M. M. SPECIFICATION. 


Manufactured by THE TYLER TUBE AND PIPE CO., WASHINGTON, PA. 

R. R. Representative, GEO. E. MOLLESON, Havemeyer Bldg., 26 CortlandtSt, New Yerk City. 




























85,000 MILES OF TRACK 

Represent the Railway Constituency of 

CHICAGO VARNISH CO., 

ESTABLISHED 1865. 


Dearborn and Kinzie, 22 Vesey Street, Pearl and High Streets, 

CHICAGO. NEW YORK. BOSTON. 


SEND FOR PAMPHLET. 


MURPHY VARNISH COMPANY. 


ESTABLISHED 1825. 

UNITED STATES IRON 

BROWN & GO., INCORPORATED, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

For Staybolts, Piston Rod?,. Driving Axles and other Special Purposes. 



SIMPLEX RAILWAY APPLIANCE CO. 


GENERAL OFFICES 


FISHER BUILDING.CHICAGO ILL. 















OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS 


— OF THE — 

l^ailuiatj Club* 

IN/I AX, 1300. 

Published monthly (except June, July and August) by the North-West Railway 
Club, 35 and 37 East Third Street. 

Entered at St. Paul Post Office as second class matter. 

Vol. V. No. 9. ST. PAUL, MINN. $2.00 Per Year 


T HE regular monthly meeting of the North-West Railway 
Club was held in the parlors of the Ryan Hotel, St. Paul, 
Minn., Tuesday evening, May 15th, 1900, President George D. 
Brooke, in the chair. 

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 p. m. 

President Brooke: If there are no objections, the minutes 
of last meeting, as printed, will stand approved. 

The Secretary will read the names of the applicants for admis¬ 
sion at our last meeting which have been acted upon by the Execu¬ 
tive Committee, and approved. 

Assistant Secretary Farmer: The following names, pre¬ 
sented at the April meeting, have been approved: Mr. T. F. 
blastings, Superintendent Minnesota Transfer Railway Co., St. 
Paul, Minn.; Mr. MaxToltz, Mechanical Engineer, Great Northern 
Railway, St. Paul, Minn. 

President Brooke: The present meeting, in one direction, 
is unusual, in that we have no applications for membership. The 
Secretary will now read the reports of Committees. 

Assistant Secretary Farmer: I have here the report of 
the committee appointed to prepare resolutions upon the death of 
Mr. John Mills, which is as follows: 








10 


To the North- West Railway Chib: 

In accordance with the resolution passed at the last meeting 
of the Club, your committee begs to present the following 
resolutions: 

Whereas, Death having removed from our midst our fellow 
member, Mr. John Mills, well known in railroad circles for 
upwards of twenty years as the foreman blacksmith of the Minne¬ 
apolis & St. Louis Railway Company, at their Minneapolis shops, 
it has been thought well that this Club should place on record a 
tribute to his memory. 

Mr. Mills at an early age came to this country from Scotland, 
and many years ago became closely identified with the Presbyterian 
church, of which he was an elder and a very zealous supporter to 
the time of his death. Ever ready to lend a helping hand in case 
of need, his loss will be keenly felt by a large circle of friends, 
especially among railroad men. 

Be It Resolved, Therefore, That the North-West Railway 
Club desires to express its sense of the loss it has sustained by the 
death of Mr. Mills, and that a copy of these resolutions be placed 
on the minutes of the Club. 

On behalf of the committee. 

John Tonge, Chairman. 


President Brooke: You have heard the reading of the 
report of the committee. What is your desire with regard to it? 

It was moved and seconded that the report be adopted and 
spread upon the minutes of the meeting. 

Motion carried unanimously. 

President Brooke: This being our last meeting for our 
fiscal year, the Secretary will read the report of the Secretary and 
Treasurer for the year’s work. 

Assistant Secretary Farmer: Mr. Foque, our Secretary, 
desired me to express his regrets at being unable to be present at 
this meeting. Urgent business called him away, although he made 
a special effort to be here tonight, but could not do so. I have 
here his report for the past year, which is as follows: 


11 


Minneapolis, Minn., May 15th, 1900. 

J\fr. President and Members of the North-West Pailway Club: 

I have to report as follows on the condition of the Club for 
the past 3 'ear: 

On May 10th, 1899, we had four hundred and eight members. 
Sixty-seven have dropped out, two have died, and we have taken 
in twenty-six new members, giving us a total today of three hun¬ 
dred and sixty-five. 

I have largely increased our advertising, and our financial 
condition is quite satisfactory. 

The collections and disbursements have been as follows: 


collections. 

On hand May 10th, 1899.$ 74.47 

From A. Child, Treasurer. 460.21 

Dues for 1900. 276.00 

Back Dues. 122.00 

Advertising. 880.00 

Proceedings to Members. 30.20 

Proceedings to other clubs. 710.00 


Total. $2,552.88 

disbursements. 

Cash on hand May 15th, 1900.$ 47.55 

Cash on deposit. 1,085.77 

Bills paid and exchange. 1,405.11 

Miscellaneous cash expenditures. 14.45 


Total... $2,552.88 


I again call your attention to the large number of members 
who are in arrears for dues, and would suggest that some action be 
taken in the matter. Notwithstanding this, I think we should all 
feel gratified at the comfortable working balance we now have, 
and I hope that each member will take an interest in the work of 
the officers, which has now grown to considerable proportions. 

T. A. Foque, 

Secretary and Treasurer. 

President Brooke: You have heard the report of the Sec¬ 
retary and Treasurer. What is your desire in reference to it? 

















12 


Mr. Parker: I move that the President appoint a committee 
of three to audit the accounts of the Secretary and Treasurer, and 
report at the next meeting. 

The motion was duly seconded and carried. 

The President announced as the members of such committee, 
Mr. E. A. Williams, Mr. John Tonge, Mr. Henry Goehrs. 

President Brooke: There being no other business before 
the Club, we will now listen to a paper on “Train Lighting,” by 
Prof. George D. Shepardson, of the University of Minnesota. 

Prof. Shepardson’s paper, which was illustrated by about sixty 
stereopticon views, was as follows: 

TRAIN LIGHTING. 

BY GEORGE D. SHEPARDSON, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. 

The subject of train lighting naturally divides into three main 
topics: the sources of light, the results produced, and the cost. 
The sources and costs will be discussed only briefly. The princi¬ 
pal part of the paper is upon the illumination in passenger cars. 
Tests are still in progress and a later report may be expected. 

The sources of light for railway passenger cars may be divided 
into four classes: candles, oil, gas and electricity. The earliest 
trains had no provision for artificial light, as the passengers rode 
on top of the cars and the trips were so short as not to require any 
night service. When the roads became longer the cars were mod¬ 
ified, passengers sat inside, the open sides were gradually enclosed 
and tiny windows admitted a small amount of light. When arti¬ 
ficial light was first introduced, it was made a distinct advertising 
point (Fig. 1), as is frequently the case with modern well-lighted 
trains. 

Candles were the first source of artificial light for cars, and 
doubtless “furnished a dim religious light although the accom¬ 
panying odor did not savor of cathedral incense.” The intensity 
of illumination in the early days is illustrated by some of the cars 
exhibited at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893. One car used 
in Nova Scotia in 1838, now exhibited in the Field Columbian 
Museum, had no provision for artificial light, for it was used on a 
road only six miles long. Another car still preserved in the mu- 


13 


seum, which was built by the Camden & Amboy R. R. Co. in 1836, 
was lighted by only two candles, one at each end in diagonal cor¬ 
ners. This car was 30 feet long inside, being built something like 
modern cars, and haying 2d seats with capacity for 48 passengers. 
Another car, made as a fac-simile of one used on the Harlan & 
Hollingsworth road in England in 1836, was lighted by two candles, 
one on either side of the car, the natural light during the daytime 
coming in through a glass windo w six inches wide. Some of the 
older members of the Club doubtless remember the days when 
candles were used for lighting cars in America, these being quite 
common up to about 1868. Candles have retained their hold on 
European practice more strongly than in America. Even at the 
present time candles are the standard source of light in guest 
chambers in many excellent hotels in Europe. Some of the cars 
exhibited as models at the Paris Exposition in 1878 had candles 
for lighting the compartments, although oil lamps were used in the 
passages. A recently reported order that all passenger cars in 
Russia be equipped with electric lights, contains also the require¬ 
ment that each compartment shall be furnished with stearine can¬ 
dles for use in'emergency. 

The candles were gradually displaced by oil lamps using heavy 
vegetable oils, lard oil or kerosene. In America the oil lamps are 
placed inside the car, with or without special ventilators. On 
some English roads, about 1836, the lamps were fixed outside, cab 
fashion, two on each side opposite the divisions between the three 
compartments. In England at present the lamps are lowered 
through the roof and are not accessible from within the car. (Figs. 
2 and 3). Through various stages of progress the oil lamp was 
developed until it gave a respectable light, though accompanied 
with numerous disagreeable and expensive features and the suspicion 
that fires in connection with wrecks are aggravated if not caused 
by kerosene lamps quite as much as by stoves. There seems to be 
a general belief that with the heavy high grade brands of kerosene 
used for train lighting, the lights are almost invariably extinguished 
by the shock of a collision or derailment, so that the oil lamps 
rarely if ever cause fires, although the oil intensifies a fire if once 
started. The desire to eliminate fire risks, as well as to furnish a 
better light, early led to experiments looking toward the use of gas 
and other less dangerous illuminants. 


14 


Gas has been used principally in four forms: compressed coal 
gas, compressed oil gas, carbureted air gas and acetylene. The 
first use of gas for lighting cars seems to have been on the Chicago 
& Galena road in 1856, when gas from the mains at the station was 
pumped into two tubes under each car;-a pump on the car forced 
air into one end of the tube against a rubber diaphragm and so 
forced out the gas from the other side; these tubes had a capacity 
for six lights for twelve hours. With a system introduced in 
England about 1858, the luggage van (baggage car) was equipped 
with a rectangular tank 10 feet long, 7 feet wide and3}£ feet high, 
built in two parts, one of which rose and fell according to the 
amount of gas contained, a water seal keeping them tight as is done 
in the large city gas holders. This tank held sufficient gas to main¬ 
tain two lights each in twelve coaches for three hours. When a 
coach was detached from the train, a small rubber bag was brought 
into the car and placed under a seat where it was connected with 
the pipes. In England, about 1874, gas was carried under ordinary 
pressure in rubber bags on top of the cars and worked tolerably 
well for short runs of four or five miles. Even on so short runs, 
air became mixed with the gas, a little air removing a large pro¬ 
portion of the luminous power of the gas flame. As late as 1891, 
some of the English trains were lighted by gas under low pressure 
from a vertical collapsible “bellows” tank in the baggage car. 

A number of roads tried compressing common coal gas in 
metallic cylinders, but the luminous power was found to be reduced 
by the compression because some of the constituents of the gas 
were condensed and deposited in the receiver, the amount of depo¬ 
sition increasing rapidly with the pressure. The Pennsylvania 
Railroad fitted out some cars with compressed gas in I860, but 
after a serious accident it was abandoned until about 1883, when 
improvements made it satisfactory, and at one time about half of 
the passenger cars on the Pennsylvania and on the Philadelphia, 
Wilmington & Baltimore roads were lighted by compressed coal 
gas, while a number of other roads used it to a smaller extent. 

In 1867, Herr Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, began experimenting 
on various gases to find something suitable for railway use. After 
three years he perfected a system that has had a marvelous success. 
Within ten years it was applied to 6,100 cars, and in April, 1900 
there were 95,000 cars and 3,200 locomotives in Europe and America 
equipped with this system. The gas is made from almost any 


15 


cheap hydrocarbon oil by exposure to a high temperature in a 
retort. At the proper temperature the oil is changed into a per¬ 
manent gas which is then purified by washing and scrubbing (by 
passing through water and iron oxide), after which it is compressed 
by pumps to 10 to 15 atmospheres (147 to 220 pounds absolute 
pressure or 132 to 205 pounds above atmospheric pressure) and 
forced into reservoirs, whence it is piped to cylinders under the 
cars. A regulator with reducing valve (Fig. 4), allows the gas to 
pass to the burners at a pressure of % ounce, each car having an 
independent system of tanks, regulators, piping and lamps (Fig. 5). 

A somewhat similar system of compressed oil gas lighting by 
the Pope Patent Lighting Company, of London, is used to a con¬ 
siderable extent in England, but does not seem to be as satisfactory 
as the Pintsch system. Some years ago the American Lighting 
Company was organized for similar purposes, but went out of 
business before 1891, and the writer has not been able to learn what 
they accomplished. 

The Frost carbureter system came into use about 1884, and 
about 1,000 cars were equipped with it on the Pennsylvania, Nor¬ 
folk & Western, Philadelphia & Reading, C. B. & Q., Wisconsin 
Central, Pullman and other lines. In the Frost apparatus, air from 
a tank connected with the air brake pipes is forced through a car¬ 
bureter filled with absorbent material saturated with gasoline 
(Fig. 6). In passing through the carbureter the air becomes 
charged with gasoline vapor and is heated as it passes through 
pipes to the lamp (Figs. 7, 8, 9), where it burns partly as a true 
gas and partly as carbureted air. The gas is apt to be too rich 
and burn with a red and smoky flame in the summer and to be poor 
and burn with a blue flame in the winter on account of the differ¬ 
ences of temperature; similar changes are liable to follow as the 
carbureter is freshly charged and then gradually becomes exhausted 
leaving a heavy residual oil; it also takes some time for the lamps 
to reach a steady temperature and give a constant flame. In spite 
of these disadvantages, the system is giving excellent satisfaction 
on some roads where carefully handled, although the Frost Com¬ 
pany has been absorbed by a competitor and the system is being 
withdrawn. 

Within a few years acetylene has been applied to car lighting 
with varying success. Acetylene gas is an indirect product of the 
electric furnace. When lime and carbon are subjected to the high 


16 


temperature of an electric furnace, they unite and form a bluish- 
gray friable amorphous substance known as calcium carbide, 
(Ca C 2 ) composed of .two parts of carbon and one part of calcium. 
When this substance comes into contact with water (H 2 O), a part 
of the carbon in the carbide unites with part of the hydrogen in 
the water, forming acetylene (C 2 H 2 ), a colorless gas with an un¬ 
pleasant smell, but which burns with an intense white light. It 
is very apt to burn with considerable smoke, and it is very explosive 
when mixed with air in certain proportions or with certain metallic 
compounds. Acetylene was first discovered in 1836, but it was 
only in 1891 to 1893 that methods were developed for making it 
on a commercial scale. It has come into somewhat extensive use 
for special purposes, such as bicycle lamps and for lighting small 
buildings. A number of experiments are in progress with a view 
to adapting it to use on railway cars. The only report of successful 
use the writer has been able to find in this connection is on two 
small roads in Canada, where each passenger coach has a small 
generator in the toilet room, it being found impossible to use a 
large generator for the whole train. It seems almost impossible 
to avoid leakage and the penetrating odor that follows. The qual¬ 
ity of the carbide is not uniform, and there seems to be difficulty 
in securing contracts for the carbide with guaranteed prices and 
delivery covering any extended period. Acetylene has been tried 
in several instances in connection with compressed oil gas, it being 
reported that a mixture of 80 per cent oil gas and 20 per cent acety¬ 
lene gas trebles the amount of light given by the oil gas alone. 
The mixed gas is not used in this country for the reasons given. 

Electric lights have been used on railway cars for a number of 
years, current being supplied by primary or secondary batteries, 
by dynamos and by a combination of dynamo and battery. Attempts 
to use primary batteries have been abandoned as too expensive. 
Storage batteries charged at terminal stations are in extensive and 
increasing use. Familiar examples of this system are on the “Bur¬ 
lington Limited” and on the C. M. & St. P. trains 2 and 5 between 
Chicago and the Twin Cities, the batteries being carried in boxes 
under the cars (Fig. 10). In a number of trains current is furnished 
by a dynamo directly coupled to a steam engine in the baggage 
car, as on the “Pioneer Limited” of the C. M. &St. P. Py. (Fig 11), 
or on the “Northwestern Limited” on the C. St. P. M. & O. Ry. 
(Fig. 12). The engine has been driven by compressed air, by gas 


17 


or oil, by steam from the locomotives or from a special boiler. 
The dynamo generally sends current directly to the lamps, although 
in some cases each car carries a storage battery which is charged 
by the dynamo during the day and which supplies part or all of the 
current during the night. The engine and dynamo are placed either 
lengthwise or crosswise of the car as seems best for minimizing the 
vibration which is apt to be noticeable on a vestibuled train when 
standing at stations. 

The electric system which has proved most attractive and most 
troublesome to inventors is that in which the dynamo is driven 
from the car axle, thus taking power from the large locomotive 
rather than from a small and inefficient engine. This plan has 
been tried by a number of companies and with varying success and 
discouragements. In England and Europe several systems of this 
type have been developed successfully. The variation of speeds 
encountered, and the fact that our American cars run on swiveled 
trucks, have made the problem more difficult than in Europe, where 
the coaches are without trucks, like our cabooses, and where the 
tracks are necessarily straigbter. The difficulties have been over¬ 
come one at a time, and it now seems as if the axle driven dynamo 
was a real success. With all systems of this type it is necessary 
to have a storage battery to supply current when the car is stand¬ 
ing or is running at low speed, for the dynamo will not operate 
until a certain speed is reached. These conditions involve difficult 
and interesting problems for the electrical engineer. A full dis¬ 
cussion of how the difficulties have been met and solved would 
extend this paper into a treatise. 

After many trials and vexations, there are now several systems 
of lighting cars by electricity which have become reliable and not 
too expensive. Of the 1723 postal cars in Germany in 1888, it 
was reported that 1108 were already equipped with electric lights- 
and that all new cars were to be so equipped. .Recent reports 
from Russia state that electric lights are to be required in all pas¬ 
senger cars. If one may judge by the technical press, electric 
lighted trains seem to be the rule in Germany, France and England.. 
In America, electricity seems to have been considered an experi¬ 
ment and a luxury rather than a necessity or economy. Reports 
from various sources do not agree as to the relative cost of electricity 
and other illuminants. Some show that electric lights are far 
cheaper than gas or even oil, while others claim electricity to be= 


18 


five to ten times as expensive as some other sources. The ap¬ 
parently greater expense of electricity in some cases is due to a 
considerable extent to the fact that far more light is used than is 
common with other illuminants. Some reports show that for 
equal illumination kerosene oil is considerably more expensive 
than electricity, while oil gas is about 20 percent more expensive. 
It is difficult at present to institute a fair comparison on a uniform 
basis, because the elements of cost vary so greatly with conditions, 
such as size of plant, number of cars handled, methods of obtain¬ 
ing power, skill of operators, policy of company, service of cars 
and other conditions that will suggest themselves. The system 
that seems best for solid through trains may not be best for local 
or suburban work, and each case must be considered by itself. 
So far as the writer can judge, the general opinion in this part of 
the country is that electric lights are a great advertising scheme, 
and are warranted by the amount of travel they will draw or that 
would go to competitors better equipped, rather than by any 
marked economy they may show. With the experience of past 
years, however, and the high degree of perfection now reached by 
modern electrical apparatus, the writer believes that electric sys¬ 
tems are not only as reliable and economical as any other system 
of lighting, but also that its well known advantages will prove 
electricity the superior of any and all competitors in train lighting. 
The absence of open flame and reduced fire risk make it peculiarly 
adaptable to use in sleepers where the electric berth light alone 
holds a place, and also to all cases where uniform illumination is 
desired. 

The lighting of cars, like many other public services, is prac¬ 
tically controlled by what the public demands. In the early days, 
when railways were short and rides were a novelty, passengers 
were satisfied with almost anything that would give enough light 
for protection from criminals. People were not accustomed to 
anything but the poorest of lights in their homes, for the candle 
and lard or whale oil lamps were the best known. It was not 
customary to have much light in the streets and other public 
thoroughfares, and people naturally were satisfied with a corres¬ 
ponding amount of light on railway trains. The development of 
electric arc and incandescent lamps opened peoples eyes to the fact 
that they might turn night into day, and they immediately began 
to demand more and stronger lights in the streets, public build- 


19 


ins;s, railway cars and all other public places. The best is always 
in demand, and when one party learns how to supply light and 
other conveniences better than those furnished by others, it be¬ 
comes an immediate necessity for competitors to equal or exceed 
the latest and best performance. It is, therefore, of some interest 
to inquire how much light is necessary for certain purposes and 
how this may best be secured. 

The question as to what constitutes a satisfactory light 
depends upon a number of circumstances. If it is necessary only 
to see one’s way in the dark, a very small amount of light will 
suffice. Experiments carried on by the navy department of the 
United States, Germany and the Netherlands, showed that a light 
of one candle is visible at a distance of one mile on a clear night 
when no other lights are to be seen. On the other hand, a rash 
person will sometimes look directly at the sun, whose intensity is 
1,000,000,000,000,000 times as great as that of the candle one 
mile distant. While the human eye can perceive lights of so 
widely differing intensity, it cannot see both at the same time, for 
the retina and iris adjust themselves for the strongest light in the 
field of vision. Various experimenters have shown that one light 
becomes invisible in the presence of another 64 to 190 times as 
intense, an example of which is the familiar fact that the stars are 
not seen in the day time although they shine continously. When 
the eye has been exposed to a light of given strength, it takes 
some time to adjust itself to a light which is very much stronger 
or weaker. For example, when the sun is shining on the snow, 
one cannot see for a short time when either entering or leaving a 
building, until his eyes become accustomed to the great change in 
the strength of the light. The same thing occurs in a smaller 
degree when the different parts of a room are unevenly lighted. 
It is much easier working by diffused daylight than by ordinary arti¬ 
ficial light, even though the actual amount of light on one’s work 
may be the same in the two cases. The reason for this is that day¬ 
light is evenly diffused, while artificial light from artificial sources 
is generally strong in spots. The eye naturally wanders more or 
less as it follows its work; and it seems necessary to remove the 
eye occasionally from the work in order to rest it. If different 
parts of the field of vision are unequally lighted, the eye becomes 
tired in trying to adapt itself to the varying intensities in different 
places. For this reason it is desirable to have not only a strong 


20 


local light one one’s work, but also a fairly good general light 
throughout the room. Neglect of this point has caused much 
unsatisfactory lighting. Closely allied to the above is the necessity 
for keeping the light free from fluctuations. This is one of the 
greatest objections to the use of candles and open flame gas lights, 
as the continual flickering soon wearies the eye and diminishes the 
amount of work that can be accomplished with a given amount of 
energy. For a similar reason the light should be free from streaks, 
and it is found that a ground glass or opal globe makes the light 
more serviceable although it cuts off from 30 to 60 per cent of the 
original amount of light. Another point along the same line is 
that regular reflection of light to the eye should be avoided. 
Every substance reflects more or less of the light that strikes it. 
If the surface is very smooth and even, the light is reflected reg¬ 
ularly so that the image of the source of light is easily seen as in 
a mirror. As the surface becomes more rough, the reflection is 
broken up so that the eye does not see a continuous image of the 
source of light, but rather a multitude of infinitesimal partial 
images which blend into a general illumination of the surface. 
There is more or less of a glare when the lights and the surface 
illuminated are in such position that the light striking the surface 
at the same angle as it leaves it in going to the eye, that is, when 
the angles of incident and reflected light are equal. As the source 
of light becomes larger the regular reflection becomes less and 
less, a result being that a large diffusing globe around the light 
almost entirely destroys the glare of regular’reflection. The globe 
has still another function in making the apparent source of light 
larger and hence less intense, so that even if the source of light 
should come within the range of vision, its intensity is so reduced 
as not to cause serious discomfort. There are, then, at least 
three reasons for using globes or shades around lamps: to avoid 
streaks, to reduce regular reflection, and to reduce intensity of the 
source without corresponding reduction of its strength. 

The question of the amount and location of the light depends 
upon the purpose for which it is to be used and upon the surround¬ 
ings. For some purposes it is desirable to have the lights them¬ 
selves conspicuous, giving what is sometimes called “illumination 
appearance” or “scenic illumination,” in which aesthetic or striking 
effects are sought. In other cases the appearance of the light is 
not of so much importance as a good illumination of other surfaces. 


21 


In many cases both illumination and illumination appearance are 
desired. In lighting a train according to modern ideas and demands, 
it is desirable not only to have the cars so well lighted that a pass¬ 
enger may read in any part of the car about as well as he could by 
daylight, but it is also desirable to have each car and the train as 
a whole present an attractive appearance. The effect upon the 
traveling public is marked when they have to choose between a 
well lighted car and one poorly lighted. A strong well distributed 
and well arranged light pleases the average passenger far more 
than a miserable light, although the latter be accompanied by the 
softest and most expensive upholstery and trimmings. That the 
value of illumination appearance is appreciated by the powers that 
be, is well illustrated by the illuminated tail pieces or transparencies 
that decorate several of the evening trains leaving the Twin Cities, 
and by the outside vestibule lights that were intended originally 
for use at stations only, but which add so much to the general 
appearance of the train that their advertising value was instantly 
recognized, so that they are kept lighted all the time between sta¬ 
tions. The lights in a car should be placed so as not to come within 
the field of vision of one who is reading. One car found to have a 
very excellent and uniform illumination was seriously marred 
because the side lights were too low. At the same time they should 
ordinarily be so placed that passengers may see them and feast the 
eyes on a handsome arrangement of not too brilliant lights in 
pleasing fixtures and surroundings. One or two rows of lights 
heighten the effect of roominess in a car. This effect is well rec¬ 
ognized in display lighting of buildings at exhibitions and elsewhere, 
long rows of lights lending an air of magnificence that may be quite 
lacking by daylight. 

The amount of light that is necessary for comfortable reading 
depends to a considerable extent upon the arrangement of the lights. 
If they are well out of the range of ordinary vision, so that one 
reading will not see the lights with the ordinary motion of the eyes, 
and if the light is well diffused, coming from a number of sources 
or from diffused sources, one can read comfortably with less light 
than when it comes from one concentrated source or when one or 
more sources of light are in such position that one almost unavoid¬ 
ably sees them as he reads. One can read large print in weaker light 
than is required with small print. Within reasonable limits the 
rapidity with which one can read or do similar work varies directly 


22 


with the amount of light. The eye cannot measure the strength 
of light directly and is not able to judge whether one light is two, 
three or four times as strong as another, since the effect upon the 
eye is found to vary about as the logarithm of the increased strength 
of light. With low intensities of light the eye perceives small 
changes easily, but as the light becomes stronger and stronger, the 
eye cannot detect variations of the same relative amount. For 
this reason unsteadiness is less noticeable with strong lights than 
with weak ones. On a moving car there is sure to be more or less 
vibration of the book or printed sheet, so that it is necessary to 
have the light stronger than would be tolerable in a perfectly quiet 
place. To read comfortably the light should be at least as strong 
as that given by a good candle at a distance of about one foot from 
the paper, although it is possible to read with tolerable comfort at 
a distance of three feet if the room is free from draughts. For 
purposes of comparison it is customary to consider illumination in 
terms of “candle-feet,” using as a unit the strength of the light at 
a distance of one foot from a standard candle. 

The elementary law of photometiy (or measurement of light)’ 
is quite simple. When the source of light is a point,- or without 
considerable size, the strength of the light varies inversely with 
the square of the distance. To illustrate, (Fig. 13) if a board one 
foot square were held one foot from a candle, it would cast a 
shadow covering four square feet on a screen two feet or nine 
square feet on a screen three feet away. From this it follows that 
a light which fell upon one square foot at a distance of one foot 
would be spread over four times the surface at twice the distance; 
in other words, the illumination is distributed over a surface pro¬ 
portional to the square of the distance, and its intensity is inversely 
proportional to the square of the distance. The photometer is an 
instrument containing a light of known strength and a screen, 
which is moved back and forth (Fig. 14) between the standard 
lamp and the light to be tested until its two sides are equally 
illuminated by the two lights. Then the strength of the lights are 
proportional to the squares of the distances between the lights and 
the screen. There are various details in the different photometers, 
but all are based on practically the same principle as just noted. 
No artificial light is of equal strength in all directions, but by 
pointing the photometer at the same light in different directions it 
is possible to measure the strength of the light at any angle. To 


23 


determine the total amount of light given out by an irregular 
source it would be necessary to calculate the spherical candlepower, 
or sometimes only that given out in the lower hemisphere, not 
considering that sent upward to the ceiling. In most cases of 
interior illumination the spherical candlepower should be taken 
rather than the hemispherical, since a considerable share of the 
light sent to the ceiling and side walls is reflected into the room 
and thus becomes available. In fact the simple law of photometry 
holds only approximately in a closed space. To prove this it is 
only necessary to call attention to the enormous difference in the 
apparent strength of a lantern when in a small room and when 
out of doors on a dark night, where there is no other light and 
little or no reflection from walls. 

In any room each wall reflects or diffuses a greater or less 
amount of light received, and thus becomes a secondary source of 
light which strikes the other walls and is reflected again and again, 
the result being that the original source of light is multiplied. In the 
extreme case of a room with walls, ceiling and floor covered with 
polished mirrors having a reflecting power of 95 per cent, the 
total amount of light would be apparently twenty times that of 
the original source. In a room with fresh white walls having a 
reflecting power of 80 per cent, the original light would be 
increased about five times. These figures are reduced considerably 
in practice by the presence of furniture, doors, carpets and other 
poorer reflectors which intercept the light. A few experimenters 
have determined the amount of percentage of light reflected by 
various surfaces, and experiments are in progress at the University 
of Minnesota to determine further values for surfaces as are com¬ 
monly used in cars and other structures. The following values 
reported by Sumpner give some idea of the reflecting power of a 


few common surfaces : 

Per Cent. 

White blotting paper. 82 

Ordinary foolscap.. 70 

Newspapers.•.50 to 70 

Yellow wall paper. 40 

Blue Paper. 25 

Dark brown paper. 13 

Deep chocolate paper. 04 

Black cloth. 01.2 

Black velvet. 00.4 











24 


A dirty surface reflects about half as much light as when clean. 
It is thus evident that the finish of a car has much to do with the 
illumination produced by a given equipment of lamps. (See dis¬ 
cussion of Curve sheet No. 24). 

If the distribution of light at different angles from a lamp is 
known, it is possible to calculate approximately the illumination at 
various distances from it, and to plot a curve of illumination. If 
there are a number of lights adding to the illumination at this point 
their contributions may be added from the curves and the total 
illumination determined. Curves are shown (Figs. 15 and 16), to 
illustrate results obtained by experiments undertaken by Engineer¬ 
ing News in 1891. The curves are open to criticism since they 
neglect the effect of reflection, and also assume the reader to be 
directly under the line of lights. So far as the writer has been 
able to learn, these are the only results that have been published 
which even attempt to show the results actually obtained in a car. 

In order to discover the amount and distribution of light in 
cars as actually found in practice, two of the senior students in 
Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, W. L. Kin- 
sell and F. G. Tracy, have made a number of tests on cars of diff¬ 
erent roads and lighted by various systems. The amount and 
distribution of light as calculated from experiments in laboratories 
are unreliable, and do not represent the facts actually obtained in 
practice, because the candlepower of the lamps is determined in 
rooms specially prepared to avoid all reflection, and the lamps so 
tested are usually specially selected and specially cared for during 
the test. On the other hand, the lamps in the cars have more or 
less indifferent care; they vary during the run, being in poorer con¬ 
dition after burning several hours, the height of flame, transparency 
of globes and chimneys and condition of burners having considerable 
effect upon the amount and quality of the light; and the position of 
the lamp affects to a considerable extent the results produced on 
account of reflection, uniformity of distribution and location of 
lamps within the angle of vision. For the purpose of the tests 
proposed, a Webber portable photometer was carefully calibrated 
and fitted with suitable attachments (Fig. 17), so that it could be 
set up in a car and placed on any seat to measure the illumination 
actually produced at points where passengers are wont to read. 
Courtesies were extended by officials of the Soo, Milwaukee, 
Omaha and Burlington roads, and tests were made upon about 


25 


forty cars lighted by oil, gas, electricity and by combinations. It 
was desired to measure the light falling upon a printed page in 
such position as passengers usually adopt, but observation showed 
that every passenger has his own angle for holding a book or paper 
and further that he is continually shifting his position to find one 
more comfortable. A number of tests were made to find to what 
extent the light at a given spot varied according to the angle at 
which the paper is held. 

A seat near the middle of a car was selected and the light was 
measured as it would fall upon a book or paper in the horizontal 
position facing the ceiling, then facing the end of the car at inclin¬ 
ations of 30 and 45 degrees with the vertical, then facing the aisle 
at the two angles, then at a position midway between at the same 
two angles. The intensity of light in the different positions was 
as follows: 


Horizontal, facing ceiling.81 candle-feet. 

Facing end of car and 30° from vertical.725 44 

“ “ 44 45° “ 44 .70 44 

Facing aisle and 30° from vertical.1.13 44 

14 44 45° “ “ .1.10 

Between aisle and end and 30° from vertical.82 44 

4 4 4 4 4 4 45° 44 44 79 44 

Average of all positions.87 44 


As most of the passengers seemed to prefer a position at about 
45 degrees across the seat, and as the average of the two angles at 
this position gave the strength of light about the same as that at 
horizontal position, the latter was considered as giving a fair ave¬ 
rage for the illumination at the positions generally taken, and all 
the measurements of illumination were taken for the light falling 
on a horizontal surface. The cars tested included day coaches, 
smokers, combination coaches and smokers, reclining chair cars, 
sleepers, compartment sleepers, parlor and buffet cars, also two 
street cars. No tests were made on dining cars, mail, baggage or 
express cars. Arrangements have been made for tests on additional 
cars which may be reported later, but the results already obtained 
give sufficient data for deriving certain conclusions. 

As will be seen from the tabulated data and curves, oil lamps 
do not give a strong light, although the variations from seat to seat 
are not always so marked as with some stronger lights. The strength 








26 


of the lamps varied from 40.6 to 6.03 candle-power at 45 degrees 
down to 15. to 3.4 candle-power vertically below the lamps. The 
horizontal candle-power was not measured. The illumination in 
the oil lighted cars varied from 1.46 to 0.79 candle-feet in the best 
(a day coach) to 0.035 to 0.008 candle-feet in the poorest lighted 
car tested, (a smoker), the average illumination in any car varying 
from 0.0125 to 0.859 candle-feet. The average illumination on five 
cars being 0.545 candle-feet. 

The only cars with gas lights tested were those equipped with 
the Pintsch system. The light varied from 20 to 37 candle-power 
for four-burner lamps, to 34 to 47 candlepower for six-burner sets. 
The illumination varied in a single car from 2.05 to 1.05 candle- 
feet in the best, (a cafe parlor car) to from 0.94 to 0.15 candle- 
feet in the poorest lighted car (a day coach). Six cars tested gave 
an average illumination of 1.06 candle-feet. 

In the cars with electric lights the strongest illumination was 
found in a compartment sleeper, where the light near the berth 
lamp was 6.9 candle-feet, dropping off to 2.6 candle-feet in the 
center. In a buffet car equipped with both gas and electric lights, 
when the gas was extinguished, the illumination with electric 
lights alone varied from 5.45 to 3.2 candle-feet. In a combination 
coach and smoker the illumination varied from 4.25 to 1.1 candle- 
feet. The average of all the cars lighted by electricity alone gave 
an average of 1.98 candle-feet. In the car with poorest electric 
lights the illumination varied from 1.43 to 0.02 candle-feet, the 
lowest except at one end seat being 0.7 candle-feet. This car was 
lighted from storage batteries which were nearly exhausted at the 
time of the test, and the illumination was only about one-third of 
what it should be under normal conditions. 

A number of cars were found equipped with both gas and 
electric lights. It was probably the idea of the car maker to use 
one or the other as circumstances might require, but the practice 
is generally to use both illuminants while within the limits of the 
Twin Cities and then gradually diminish the light after the pasen- 
gers and the rest of the public have become fully impressed with 
the magnificent lighting afforded patrons of the road. Right here 
lies a point worth some attention. If half of the lights are turned 
off suddenly, the passengers notice the difference at once and are 
liable to feel that they and their friends have been victims of a 
wicked delusion, since they are not to enjoy the brilliant illumi- 


27 


nation promised them at first. This feeling of disappointment and 
possible resentment may be avoided by a little finesse on the 
part of the train men. It is well known that while the eye is able 
to detect sudden variations in the strength of a light, it does not 
detect slow variations or those of less than one or two per cent. 
Electric and gas lights have the marked advantage that all the 
lamps in a car may be controlled from a single point. The astute 
porter or brakeman might, therefore, be equipped with a suitable 
device for turning out part of the lights so gradually and slowly 
that no ordinary passenger would detect the difference; unless the 
lights were turned out too far so that the passenger had difficulty 
in seeing well, he would still cherish the idea that he had as fine 
illumination as he had at the start although actually it may not be 
one-half as much. 

In the cars with combination gas and electric lights the buffet 
car noted above had the strongest illumination, which was no less 
than 6.8 candle-feet at the maximum and 4.7 at the minimum when 
both gas and electricity were in use, the figures dropping to 5.45 
and 3.2 when the gas was turned out. A reclining chair car with 
six groups composed of 4 gas burners and 4 sixteen candle electric 
lamps showed a maximum illumination of 4.0 candle-feet and a 
minimum of 0.91, with a general average of 2.28 candle-feet. A 
slightly different arrangement of the lights would have effected a 
marked improvement in this car, as will be evident from an 
inspection of its curve of illumination (sheet 10). This car had 
both the strongest illumination found (with the exception of the 
buffet car noted) and also, strange to say, the lowest in any car 
with combination gas and electric lights, and it well illustrates the 
importance of a photometric study of car lighting. 

Comparing the lighting in different kinds of cars, we find 
among 10 day coaches examined a maximum illumination of 4.7, 
a minimum of 0.79 (in an oil lighted car), and a general average 
of 1.46 candle-feet. In 8 sleepers examined the maximum illumi¬ 
nation was 4.32, the minimum was 0.02 (in an oil lighted car) and 
a general average of 1.97 candle-feet. Six chair cars showed a 
maximum of 4.00, a minimum of 0.67 and a general average of 1.72 
candle-feet. Three buffet cars showed a maximum of 6.8, a min¬ 
imum of 1.05 and a general average of 3.36 candle-feet. Two 
smokers examined showed a maximum of 1.21, a minimum of 0.01 
and a general average of 0.45 candle-feet. In the parlor and 


28 


sleeping cars the smoking compartments generally had an illumi¬ 
nation somewhat less than the main body of the car, though the 
disparity does not compare with that between the smokers and day 
coaches. The latter is due not only to the poor reflecting power 
of the reeking floor and to the greater absorption of light in the 
atmosphere, but also to the poorer quality and adjustment of the 
lights. 

In studying the curves of ilumination found in the various 
cars, some interesting as well as curious results are found. In the 
majority of cars the end seats have the poorest illuminations. 
The best is frequently at the center seats, although occasionally 
the illumination in the center is nearly as poor as that at the end 
seats. The illumination at one quarter the distance from either 
end is almost always the best in the car. In a few cases the illu¬ 
mination of the seats near the side of the car is about the same as 
that of the seats near the aisle, but generally the aisle seats have 
far better light, sometimes fully twice as much. The distribution 
of light from oil lamps gives better illumination for seats near the 
side walls. It is generally supposed that sleepers do not have so 
good illumination as is found in the day coaches, on account of the 
necessity for confining the lights to a narrow row along the center 
of the roof, but the tests show it otherwise, as just noted. The 
berth lamps help the local lighting, although the writer must con¬ 
fess that his experience shows that they give a disappointing iliumin- 
nation, probably because of the concentration of the light with the 
resulting glare and the comparative dimness of the surroundings. 
A passenger must sit crosswise of the seat and in a somewhat un¬ 
comfortable position to get the best light from a berth lamp of the 
encased type, unless he is reading after the berth is made up. 
The use of frosted globes, as is common on some roads, should 
help the effect of these useful adjuncts. Reference to this point 
will be made later. 

The comparative illumination in the electric street cars and 
that in the steam cars was something of a surprise. The Harriet 
Interurban street cars are looked upon as being brillianty lighted, 
and indeed they do present a fine appearance on the streets at 
night. They look bright whether viewed from within or from 
without. Yet the actual measurements show that the cars on the 
limited trains leaving the Twin Cities for Chicago every evening 
(at least on the roads studied) have an illumination several times 


29 


as strong. The apparent illumination of the Harriet cars is 
enhanced by the large amount of window surface and by the pro¬ 
portionally large amount of polished woodwork inside. 

The accompanying halftones show the arrangement of lights 
found in some of the cars tested, and the curves show the illumin¬ 
ation produced. The halftones and curves for the same car are not 
in juxtaposition since this paper is not intended as an advertising 
medium, nor is it desired by some of the officials who extended 
courtesies in making the tests. The curve sheets usually give the 
following data: The length of curve represents the length of the 
main body of the car. The circles on the curves indicate the posi¬ 
tions taken for measuring illumination, and their height above the 
base line indicates the illumination in candle-feet at such points. 
Where only a single curve is given, the measurements were taken 
at points occupied by a book in the hands of a passenger sitting in 
the middle of a seat; where two curves are given, one is for the 
illumination at seats near the aisle and the other for seats near the 
window or side wall of the car. When the lights are not in a line 
along the center of roof, a sketch on curve sheet usually indicates 
their positions. The curves do not necessarily indicate the best 
possible illumination with the particular kind of lamp in question, 
but simply the illumination produced, with the number, location 
and condition of lights as found in the actual operation of the 
cars examined. 

Sheets 4 and 43 (Figs. 29 and 30), give illumination curves for 
two cars lighted respectively by “Moehring” and by “Belgian” oil 
lamps. The comparative regularity of the curves and the close 
equality of illumination of aisle and wall seats will be noted. In 
other cars the seats near the aisle generally have the better light. 
Curve 20 (Fig. 31), shows the poorest illumination found in any 
car met during the series of tests. 

Sheet 15 (Fig. 32), shows the illumination in the only car 
examined with the Frost carbureted air system of lighting. The 
car had just come in from a trip, so that the burners were probably 
in their average condition. The considerable distance between the 
lamps (15 feet) is doubtless responsible largely for the meagre 
illumination. 

Sheets 13 and 42 (Figs. 33 and 34), show the results in two 
cars lighted respectively by 4 and 5 four-burner Pintsch gas lamps. 
The latter curve illustrates the maintenance of illumination of the 


30 


end seat by placing the lamp nearer the end than the distance to 
the next lamp. 

Sheets 20, 24, 31, 35 and 36 illustrate some of the results 
obtained by various arrangements of electric lights. Sheet 24 
(compare Figs. 28 and 35), shows how the reflecting globe and the 
highly polished walls of the upper berths combine to make the 
illumination stronger near the side than near the aisle although the 
distance is greater from both the ceiling and berth lights. This 
may be due also to the arrangement of ceiling lights, which in this 
car are not opposite the middle of the sections as usual but are 
opposite divisions between sections. A different spacing of the 
lamps would improve the uniformity of illumination, although it is 
sufficient even at the end seats with the present arrangement. Sheet 
31 (Fig. 36), for a car with side lights only, shows an excellent 
distribution of light except at one end where the lamp on one side 
is in the toilet room and does not contribute to the general illumi¬ 
nation. The proximity of the curves for aisle and wall seats is 
notable. Sheet 36 (Fig. 37), from a car with both side and center 
lights, shows an interesting crossing of illumination curves for aisle 
and wall seats; here, too, the illumination might easily be made more 
uniform by judicious spacing of lights. Sheet 35 (Fig. 38), shows 
the distribution of light in a compartment of a sleeper, having a 
group of five electric lamps with a reflector in. the ceiling and two 
berth lamps; the curve at the left shows the illumination at intervals 
of six inches taken at the positions occupied by a book in the hands 
of a passenger sitting near the window; the curves at the right give 
similar readings taken one foot apart to illustrate the difference in 
illumination for seats near the window and passage-way respectively; 
the two curves for “wall” or window seats were evidently not taken 
at exactly .the same points. 

Sheets 14, 10 and 19, 11 and 12, 17 and 18, exhibit some of the 
characteristics of cars lighted by both gas and electricity. Curve 
14 (Fig. 39), for a buffet car shows the strongest illumination in 
any car examined and approaches diffused daylight; the two curves 
for electric lights alone, and for combination gas and electricity, 
show that either alone would give sufficient illumination for prac¬ 
tical purposes except, perhaps, advertising. Sheets 10 and 19 
(Fig. 40), show the illumination at wall and aisle seats with gas 
and electric lights as used at terminal stations and with part of the 
gas extinguished as is customary when on the road; the arrangement 


31 


of lights gives poor illumination at the ends, medium at the.center 
and needlessly strong at intermediate points; an arrangement of 
lights for more uniform illumination is suggested by the small 
circles at the upper margin of the diagram. Sheets 11 and 12 
(Fig. 41), show another car with and without the gas to re-inforce 
the electric lights, giving a more uniform illumination than that in 
the preceding case; were the partitions in the car (Fig. 22), removed, 
the illumination would doubtless increase toward the middle, it 
being ample with the partitions in place when either gas or electric 
lamps are lighted. Sheets 17 and and 18 (Fig. 42), show an excel¬ 
lent distribution of light, and also illustrates how auxiliary lights 
may have an unintended influence; at the end of the car represented 
by the left end of the curves is a passage-way at one side of the 
smoking compartment which is lighted from a combination fixture; 
this increases the illumination for the first aisle seat and for the 
second wall seat in a marked degree. 

A further discussion of the different systems of lighting is so 
well put in the thesis of Messrs. Kinsell and Tracy that the fol¬ 
lowing quotations are justified: 

The average illumination by the different systems is found to be as 


follows: 

1 . 

Gas and electricity combined.. 

, .average 2.89 candle-feet. 

2. 

Electricity alone. 

1.98 

3. 

Gas alone. 

1.005 “ 

4. 

Oil.. 

0.545 

5. 

Carbureted air. 

.. “ 0.44 


The comparison in regard to uniformity of illumination gives the fol¬ 
lowing ratios between minimum and maximum values in any one car: 


Gas and electricity combined 

Electricity alone. 

Gas alone. 

Oil. 

Carbureted air. 


0.528 

0.457 

0.410 

0.338 

0.102 


It is thus seen that the method which gives the most light also gives 
the greatest uniformity as a whole, and that the five methods of lighting 
have the same order in both comparisons. While the relative differences are 
less in the first system than in the last, the actual differences in the first 
system sometimes amount to as much as or more than the total illumina¬ 
tion with the last named system. As percentage of variations is really the 
test of uniformity, this is adopted as the correct basis. 

Another comparison of interest is the variation of illumination at 
adjacent seats. In this regard sleepers cannot be compared with other 
cars on account of the different arrangement of seats; in cars other than 











.32 


sleepers the readings between the end of the car and the first lamp (or 
between the two end seats) are omitted in the following table, as the curve 
of illumination has not yet obtained its average value, and it is not thought 
that this result is desired so much as the variation in the body of the car. 
The values of the larger divided by the smaller at the point of greatest 
variation, omitting end seats, are as follows: 


1. Electricity. 1.25 

2. Gas and electricity. 1.31 

3. Gas. 1.63 

4. Oil. 1.84 

5. Carbureted air. 2.33 


The great advantage of electric light is here shown, as it comes first 
in point of uniformity, a result of using many lamps of small candle-power 
instead of a few lamps of large candle-power. 

In general lighting practice it is found that an illumination of one 
candle-foot gives a fairly good light for reading, while one-half a candle- 
foot may be used, and one and one-half gives what may be called a very 
fine light. Anything below a half-candle-foot would be called a very poor 
light, and anything above one and one-half is good mainly for advertising 
purposes, although it adds to the pleasure and comfort of a traveler to a 
certain degree. 

In comparing the different kinds of light, the general results may be 
stated as follows: 

OIL. 

This gives in some respects the most uniform light, in that there is- 
little choice between the wall and aisle seats; but as a whole its uniformity 
is not marked, coming fourth both in regard to its maximum variation 
as a whole and as to adjacent seats. The illumination as a whole is also 
poor, the average in seven curves being only 0.545 candle-feet, which is 
such as to make reading possible without a marked degree of discomfort, 
although hard on the eyes. The best curves show an average illumination 
of one candle-foot, which is fairly good. 

GAS. 

This gives a curve better than oil in respect to maximum variation, 
both as a whole and between adjacent seats. It gives an average illumina¬ 
tion better than oil, namely one candle-foot. The oil has the advantage 
that with gas the variations between the wall and aisle seats is very 
marked, amounting in some cases to 200 to 300 per cent. But as it shares 
this fault with all systems except oil and electricity, this cannot be 
considered a very serious defect comparatively, although it'should be noted. 
\ 

ELECTRICITY. 

This appears to be the best of all the lights. It owes its good qualities 
to the fact that it can be divided into small units which can be placed 







INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS 


Fig. 

1. Old time table from American Railway. 

2. Lamp truck for English trains. Scribner Magazine, 16:546. 

3. Interior of English compartment. “ “ 16:418. 

4. Pintsch gas regulator. Engineering News, 26:209. 

5. “ car diagram. “ “ 26:208. 

6. Frost diagram. “ “ 25:428. 

7. “ lamps, two views. “ “ 26:136. 

8. “ “ section of Lundgren burner. “ “ 25:455. 

9. “ “ from Burlington car. 

10. Battery boxes under C. B. & Q. car. 

11. Engine and dynamo in C. M. & St. P. car. 

12. “ “ C. St. P. M. & 0. car. 

13. Law of photometry. 

14. Diagram of photometer. 

15. Illumination curves. Engineering News, 26:596. 

16. “ “ for car. “ “ 26:597. 

17. Photometer on car seat. 

18. M. St. P. & S. Ste. M. sleeper “Minnehaha.” 

19. C. B. & Q. reclining chair car. 

20. C. M. & St. P. sleeper. 

21. C. St. P. M. & O. reclining chair car No. 155. 

22. “ “ sleeper “Borneo.” 

23. “ “ buffet car. 

24. C. B. & Q. sleeper “Pantheon.” 

25. C. M. & St. P. coach No. 419. 

26. “ “ reclining chair car No. 375. 

27. C. B. & Q. coach No. 402. 

28. C. M. & St. P. sleeper “Minneapolis.” 

29. Curve sheet No. 4. 

30. “ “ “ 43. 

31. “ “ “ 20. 

32. “ “ “ 15. 

33. “ “ “ 13. 

34. “ “ “ 42. 

35. “ “ “ 24. 

36. “ “ “ 31. 

37. “ “ “ 36. 

38. .. 35. 

39. “ “ “ 14. 

40. “ “ “ 10 and 19. 

41. “ “ “ 11 and 12. 

42. “ “ “ 17 and 18. 






Fig. 


1 . 



Fig. 2. 




Fig. 4 

















































Fig. 5. 













Fig. 6. 




Fig. 7. 








Fig. 8 










































































Fig. 9. 



Fig. 10 























Fig. 11. 




Fig. 12 
















































Fig. 13. 




Fig. 14. 


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Fig. 15. 



Fig. 16 































Fig. 17. 



Fig. 18 











































Fig. 19. 



Fig. 20 


























Fig. 21. 




Fig. 22 


























































Fig. 23. 



Fig. 24 
































Fig. 25. 



Fig. 26 









































Fig. 27. 



Fig. 28 


































F(G. 29, 














































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 30. 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 31. 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































S'«>**.$ 




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































si'-*- 3 ' ?(, > 9 ** H fx. 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 34. 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 35. 























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 36. 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 37. 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 39. 





























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 40. 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig141* 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 42 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































33 


where they will do the most good. It comes first in regard to uniformity 
in adjacent seats, and second in regard to uniformity throughout the car, 
but could be made first in this respect also with a better arrangement. 
The average of twenty-five curves shows a good illumination amounting to 
nearly two candle-feet. By a skillful arrangement of side and center 
lights, the wall and aisle seat curves can be brought very close together. 
It has in this respect the same advantage as oil, namely, greater light at 
30 and 45 degrees than directly underneath the lamp. Care must betaken ? 
however, in placing the side lights. In one of the best curves found, the 
aisle and wall seats had nearly equal illumination, but the side lights were 
so low that they came within the angle of vision and were thus very annoy¬ 
ing to a passenger sitting near the end of the car. For this reason they 
should not be placed lower than seven feet from the floor, unless each seat 
has its own lamp protected by a shade or otherwise so as to prevent the 
glare. Another good feature of the electric light is that in sleepers each 
person can turn his berth light on or off at will, and in chair cars, where 
passengers desire to sleep, most of the lights will be turned off between 
stations for that purpose. Gas also has the latter advantage to a certain 
degree. From a careful study of the curves, the best method of distribu¬ 
tion of the lights seems to be a side light for alternate seats and center 
lights between (not opposite) these. 

GAS AND ELECTRICITY COMBINED. 

The use of both gas and electricity seems useless, as electricity has all 
the advantages of gas and one more. Therefore, unless it is deemed a 
good advertising feature to have both as a factor of safety so that if one 
fails the other is ready, or if it is desired to obtain light away beyond any 
necessity,as is done in a few cars, this combination seems superfluous. One 
road on which tests were made has no gas in its electric lighted trains, and 
they claim never to have had the lights fail in their experience of ten 
*years or more. 


CARBURETED AIR. 

With this system, only two curves were secured. As nearly as can be 
determined from the data obtained, it is about the same as gas and has 
similar characteristics. 

In the use of electric berth lights, the frosted bulb without a reflector 
seems to give the most pleasing light. The reason for this is that with a 
clear bulb and reflector the light at certain angles has an unpleasant glare 
and is not quite so uniform as with the frosted bulb. On the other hand, 
the plain bulb and reflector give a more powerful light in certain direc¬ 
tions for a lamp of the candle-power, and may be used to advantage if the 
traveler is willing to take the best position But the method of the aver¬ 
age passenger is to take the position most comfortable to his person and 
let his eyes take care of themselves. The frosted bulb, therefore, seems 
preferable.” 


34 


As was noted at the beginning, the experiments on train light¬ 
ing are still in progress, and this paper should be considered simply 
as introductory, as it is intended to carry the subject further, 
securing the results of tests on more cars and of different styles, 
considering relative costs as well as the illumination produced. 

We are arranging also to take up a more complete discussion 
of the headlight, which may legitimately be considered as a part 
of the lighting of the train. Some experiments made last year by 
my colleague, Mr. F. W. Springer, showed that the engines used 
for electric headlights on one road were excessively wasteful in the 
use of steam, exceeding many times the water consumption con¬ 
sidered allowable in small engines. Some measurements were made 
by myself with others upon the actual strength of the light produced 
by oil and electric lights, but the results were not such as to give 
completely satisfactory data. There is much wild talk about the 
strength of headlights of all sorts, and as such measurements are 
usually conducted and reported, the results are far from being 
reliable. We hope to secure further data that may be of real 
value to the profession. 

President Brooke: Are there any members who desire to 
ask any questions or make any comments on Prof. Shepardson’s 
paper? If not, our next paper will be “Some Notes on Train 
Resistance,” by Mr. T. Lester Daniel, of the University of 
Minnesota. 


SOME NOTES ON TRAIN RESISTANCE. 

BY T. LESTER DANIEL, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. 

The subject of train resistance is one of two-fold interest to 
the railway mechanical engineer of today. It is of interest first 
because of its close relation to tonnage rating, and second, because 
of the direct saving in expenses accruing from its reduction. The 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, in 1873, figured that 
$785,000 a year could be saved by reducing train resistance twenty- 
five per cent, but in spite of the incentive to effort in this direction 
train resistances are the same today that they were then, because, 


35 


undoubtedly, railway men are too busy to go beyond the routine 
of their regular work, certainly not because perfection in this 
respect has been reached. 

It seems as though a reduction of twenty-five per cent were 
easily within the range of probability, inasmuch as Wellington, 
(Trans. A. S. C. E., April, 1873) has shown that a redaction of 
eighty-five per cent in axle friction could be made by substituting 
oil bath lubrication in place of the common pad lubrication now in 
use, and when it is considered that axle friction constitutes by far 
the largest part of train resistance,* and that there is further chance 
for its reduction by changing bearing metals, proportion of journals, 
and quality of lubricant, it is seen that there is opportunity for 
considerable improvement, to say nothing of the saving that might 
be made in the imperfectly understood rolling friction. 

Tonnage ratings could be made much more accurately with a 
better knowledge of the factors composing train resistance, for a 
knowledge of the factors as well as the sum totalis essential, as can 
be seen from the following: The proceedings of the Western Rail¬ 
way Club, February, 1900, cite an instance where a rise in temper¬ 
ature lowered the resistance twenty-four per cent, and the C. B. & 
Q. Railroad tests (Eng. News, 1888, p. 409) show that a strong side 
wind increases the resistance sixty per cent. The above number 
of the proceedings of the Western Railway Club also records an 
instance where a train of empty cars pulled harder than a train of 
loaded cars by seven per cent per ton, and these factors, i. e., empty 
cars, temperature and wind, have received so little attention that 
they have never been incorporated in the common formulas for 
train resistance. Obviously, a better understanding of these would 
result in a much more satisfactory tonnage rating. 

Train resistance is generally expressed in pounds of draw-bar 
pull per ton of weight hauled on a straight and level track; it 
amounts to about six pounds at ten miles per hour, and sixteen 
pounds at sixty miles per hour; it is seen to increase with the speed, 
which is in accordance with the well known experimental laws of 
friction. In colder and windy weather the few isolated observa¬ 
tions that have been made indicate that the resistance would be 
larger, and many other changes besides that of velocity might be 
imposed affecting the result, but unfortunately experiments have 


36 


been restricted almost entirely to velocity variation, as illustrated 
in the following typical formulae: 

M2 

Clark, R=6 H- 

7 0/1A 


Baldwin Locomotive Works, R=3 4- - 

6 

Mi-8 

J. B. Blood, R=4: “1~ .15 M ~f* .3 - 

T 

(Street Railway Journal, March, 1899) 

in which R is the resistance in pounds per ton; M, speed in miles 
per hour; and T, the tons hauled. These differ quite materially 
in form, although they all give reasonable results. Many others 
have been proposed, but probably none give better results than 
that of Blood. He has a term increasing with the 1.8 power of the 
velocity, which seems reasonable, for it harmonizes with experi¬ 
mental laws. Laws of solid friction state that it varies directly 
with the first power of the velocity, while laws of fluid friction 
state that it varies with the square of the velocity. Now, in case 
of car journals, we have neither a case of solid nor a case of fluid 
friction, but a case of mixed friction, and it seems reasonable that 
it should partake of the nature of both solid and fluid friction, and 
that its exponent should be neither 1 or 2, but some intermediate 
value. This term also decreases as the tonnage increases; this 
agrees well with the admirable experiments made by Thurston, 
where he shows that, within the limits of railroad practice, the 
co-efficient of friction decreases as the pressure increases. 

The fact that different experimenters obtain different results 
is no particular cause for distrust; it means that experiments are 
carried on under different conditions, and until uniform conditions 
are prescribed and accepted uniform results cannot be expected; 
different conditions of lubrication, or different lubricants, may be 
responsible for the resistance varying anywhere between the first 
and second power of the velocity, for the magnitude of this kind 
of friction is determined by the nature, quantity and method of 
applying the lubricant. The condition of bearings, condition and 
size of wheels, condition of rails and road-bed, also affect the result 





37 


together with temperature, wind, number of cars, velocity, grades, 
acceleration, air friction and curvature of track. 

The resistance due to curvature depends on its compensation, 
elevation of outer rail, kind of couplers, whether rigid or flexible 
head, length of wheel base, and probably upon the kind of trucks 
used. Formulae proposed at different times for some of these 
factors are: 

Acceleration, R=.Q132 V 2 

MM 

Rolling, axle and air friction, R=4 + .15 M + ——— 

Grade, R=.38 G 

Curvature, R=.438 D (at 25 miles per hour) 

where R=resistance in pounds per ton, M=miles per hour, T=tons 
hauled, G=grade in feet per mile, D=degrees curvature, and 
V=speed attained in one mile, in miles per hour. Air friction 
amounts to about 4.2 lbs. per car; assuming a loaded car to weigh 
45 tons, this amounts to .093 T=R; rolling friction is generally 
taken at one pound per ton (Trautwine) and is due to the rail 
resisting the progress of the wheel. 

The increased resistance due to curvature at a velocity of 25 
miles per hour has been analyzed as follows (Trans. A. S. C. E., 
April, 1878): 


Due to twist of wheel. 

.. .001 lbs. per ton per degree 

u slip of wheel. 

... .1713 “ 

a u 

“ flange friction. 

... .2450 “ 

U 

“ loss at coupling... 

. .. .0213 “ 

u u 

Total. 

... .4386 



The “coning” of wheels increases this from .125 to .25 lbs. pei 
ton per degree; loose wheels reduce this loss 20 or 25 per cent. 

The increased draw-bar pull due to tonnage made up of empty 
cars is partially due to increased air friction and partially due to 
increased co-efficient of friction at lighter pressures. (Thurston, 
“Friction and Lost Work in Machinery and Mill Work,” p 304). 

The following results for train resistance were obtained from 
a dynamometer car test made by the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault 








38 


Ste. Marie Railway last winter, and while the results are not as 
uniform as could be wished, they are as satisfactory as those 
usually obtained: 


No. 

Pull in 
Pounds 

Mile 

Post 

Grade in 
Feet to the 
Mile 

Resistance 
in Lbs. 
Per Ton 

Miles 
Per Hour 

REMARKS 

1 

24,000 

44 

42 

5.16 

6.5 


2 

25,000 

45 

42 

6.05 

5.8 


3 

25,500 

48 

28 

11.8 

2 

All cars on 4° curve 

4 

25,750 

48.59 

42 

6.66 

4.1 


5 

11,000 

59.5 

Level 

9.66 

15.3 


6 

11,750 

68 

7.67 

7.41 

19.8 


7 

8,200 

70.25 

Level 

7.2 

20.5 


8 

5,700 

89.75 

Level 

5.01 

26.5 


9 

8,100 

92.31 

Level 

7.11 

22 


10 

24,200 

102.32 

42 

5.35 

8.1 


11 

28,000 

103.4 

42.2 

8.6 

4.9 


12 

11,250 

109.5 

3.69 

8.5 

19.2 


13 

6,900 

118.66 

Level 

5.41 

24.4 


14 

7,200 

126.4 

Level 

5.64 

26 


15 

24,250 

133.19 

42.2 

4.76 

8 


16 

19,100 

133.49 

29 

3.92 

9.5 


17 

7,400 

136.62 

Level 

5.8 

24.7 


18 

10,500 

141.11 

5.28 

6.26 

20 


19 

15,100 

146.63 

14.72 

6.25 

17 



The train consisted of 35 loaded cars, with a total weight of 
1,139 tons, tare 474; at Weyerhaeuser (Mile Post 114) the train 
was increased to 39 cars, 1,277 tons. Results were deduced from the 
draw-bar pull, P, and the grade, G, and the tonnage, T, by the 
following relation: 

Work per mile=P x 5280=Rt x 5280+200 GT where the work 
is expressed in foot-pounds and Rt is the total frictional resistance 
due to axle, rolling and air friction; solving for Rt we have 
200 G T 


528 
















39 


Dividing this by the tons hauled gives the resistance in pounds per 
ton as tabulated in column five; these correspond closely to the 
formula R==5.25-K072 M where R is the resistance in pounds per 
ton and M is the miles per hour. As can be seen, the run was made 
with a freight train and with a small range of velocities, two to 
twenty-seven miles per hour. 

In order to ascertain in any case if the tonnage is so large as 
to produce frictional resistances beyond the capacity of the loco¬ 
motive, all the various resistances, rolling, axle, air, grade, curva¬ 
ture, etc., as given above, are added together, giving Rs, the sum 
of all the resistances for the particular place in mind; then the 
draw-bar pull, P, required is found from 


P=Rs T + 


GT 

5280 


which may be compared with the known pull which the locomotive 
can exert. If the train can have a speed, M, at the foot of the 
upper grade, it may ascend a hill steeper than that given by the 
above, i. e. 

P-Rs T 


G=( 


) 5280, 


for its momentum makes it capable of climbing a grade consider¬ 
ably beyond the apparent capacity of the locomotive. The force 
due to this momentum is found as follows: 

weight in lbs. w 

Momentum=mv, where m=mass of train=-——-=—; 

32.2 g 

and v=velocity of train in feet per second. Now v=at, where 
a=acceleration in feet per second and t=time in seconds to acquire 

w w 

the velocity v, hence, mv=—at; but force = f=ma-a; 

g . £ 

w * mv 

therefore, ft=— at=mv=momentum, and f=-where f is the 


g 


w t 

force due to the momentum of the train of mass m=—=—X62«3 

g g 

moving with a velocity v for t seconds. Reducing this to more 

T M 

convenient numbers for our purpose it becomes f=--X 2.83, 


where f is the total force in pounds, T is the tons hauled, M=miles 
per hour and t=time in seconds to ascend the grade; representing 






40 


the length of the grade by L miles and taking the velocity at the 
foot of the^grade at 30 miles per hour (for freight trains) t becomes 
2 L L T M L 

equal to-=-and f= -X 2.83 and the average force 

1 30 15 15 


f T M L 

on the grade=F==—=-X 2.83, hence the grade that can 

* 2 30 

(P+F—RsT) 5280 i ^ , 

now be ascended is G 1 = -where G 1 is in feet 


per mile. 

Results of experiments up to date enable me to make such 
computations with very fair satisfaction for certain normal cases, 
but much further experimentation is needed, as the laws of train 
resistance are still unformulated. 


President Brooke: I shall be glad to hear any comments or 
suggestions on the papers that we have heard to-night. 

Mr. Lovell: Mr. President, I move that the hearty thanks 
of the Club be extended to Prof. Shepardson and Mr. Daniels for 
their very interesting papers. 

The above motion being duly seconded, was carried unani¬ 
mously. 

President Brooke: This being our annual meeting, it is now 
in order to proceed with the election of officers. The officers to 
be elected are a President, Vice President, Second Vice President, 
Secretary and Treasurer, and Assistant Secretary. I will appoint 
as tellers Prof. Flather and Mr. Parker, and I would suggest that 
the first ballot be taken, as has been our usual custom, for the 
office of President. We are now ready for nominations. 

A Member: Mr. President, I move that we dispense with 
formal ballots. It is getting quite late, and to do so will save con¬ 
siderable time. 

The above motion was duly seconded and unanimously carried, 
and the following officers were elected: 

President, Mr. Geo. D. Brooke, Master Mechanic, St. P. & 
D. R. R. First Vice President, Mr. A. Lovell, Superintendent 
Motive Power, N. P. Ry. Second Vice President, Mr. G. H. 
Goodell, Mechanical Engineer, N. P. Ry. Secretary and Treas- 





41 


urer, Mr. T. A. Foque, Assistant Mechanical Superintendent, M. 
St. P. & S. Ste. M. Ry. Assistant Secretary, Mr. F. B. Farmer, 
Westinghouse Air Brake Co. 

President Brooke: Gentlemen, there is no further business 
to come before this meeting. When an adjournment is, taken it 
will, of course, be until September next. A motion to adjourn is 
now in order. 

It was thereupon duly moved and seconded that the meeting 
adjourn. 



42 


LIST OF PAPERS READ BEFORE THE NORTH-WEST 

RAILWAY CLUB. 


September, 1899, to May, 1900. 


September, 1899.Some Notes on Rope Driving 

Prof. J. J. Flather, University of Minnesota. 

September, 1899 .The Study of Cast Steel in the Blacksmith Shop 

Geo. F. Hinkens, Foreman Blacksmith, St. P. & D. R. R. 

October, 1899.The Study of Cast Steel in the Machine Shop 

W. O. Johnson, Foreman, St. P. & D. R. R. 

November, 1899.The Micro-structure of Bearing Metals and Alloys 

P. H. Conradson, Phrm. C. D., Galena Oil Co. 

December, 1899.The Slide Rule and its Uses 

Prof. J. H. Gill, University of Minnesota. 

January, 1900.Discussion: The Abuse of Air Brake Hose. Acetylene 

and Electric Headlights. Slid Flat Wheels. 

Februarj r , 1900..The Standardizing of Specifications for Locomotive Forgings 
H. F. J. Porter, Bethlehem Steel Co. 


March, 1900.Dynamometer Tests of Locomotives 

T. A. Foque, Asst. Mech’l Supt., M. St. P. & S. Ste. M. Ry. 

April, 1900. The Utilization of Water Power for the Electric Railway System 
of Minneapolis and St. Paul. 

E. P. Burch, Consulting Engineer. 

May, 1900.Train Lighting 

Prof. Geo. D. Shepardson, University of Minnesota. 












43 


LIST OF MEMBERS. 


Amman, W. E., 1536 St. Charles St., Alameda, Cal. 

Anderson, S. L., C. B. Hutchins Freight Car Roof, Detroit, Mich. 

Atkinson, G. W. P., Galena Oil Co., Franklin, Pa. 

Adams, T. E., Master Mechanic, G. N. Ry., West Superior, Wis. 

Adams, A., Loco. Foreman, G. N. Ry., Willmar, Minn. 

Ashley, Howard, Loco. Foreman, G. N. Ry., Kalispel, Mont. 

Allen, L. B., Supt., G. N. Ry., Willmar, Minn. 

Brooke, Geo. D., Master Mechanic, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Barber, J. C., 1545 Old Colony Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Bean, S. L., Master Mechanic, N. P. R. R., Brainerd, Minn. 

Bryan, H. S., Master Mechanic, D. & I. R. R. R., Two Harbors, Minn. 

Brady, James B., 1406 Empire Bldg., 71 Broadway, New York City. 

Baldwin, W. M., Galena Oil Co., Western Union Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Bangs, Ed. D., Bangs Oil Cup Co., 1522 Cedar St., Milwaukee, Wis. 

Bigelow, Geo., Chicago Varnish Co., Chicago, Ill. 

Brassel, J. K., Cal. Northwestern Ry., Tiburon, Cal. 

Barber, F. L., Draughtsman, D. M. & N. R. R., Proctor Knott, Minn. 
Barnard, F. E., 81 Milk St., Boston, Mass. 

Bailey, G. N., Div. Master Mechanic, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Bruce, Geo. A , Div. Master Mechanic, G. N. Ry., Breckenridge, Minn. 

Bryant, Geo. H., Thos. Prosser & Sons, 1405 Old Colony Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Braine, L. F., Cont. Rail Joint Co. of America, Newark, N. J. 

Bachelder, F. C., Supt., B. & 0. Ry., Garrett, Ind. 

Burkley, Fay, P. 0. Box 326, St. Paul, Minn. 

Bryan, L. H., Gen’l Foreman Loco. Repairs, D. & I. R. R. R., Two Harbors, 
Minn. 

Bushman, H., Waite Park, Stearns Co., Minn. 

Bishop, A. J., Master Painter, N. P. Ry., 1636 Capitol Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 
Birse, John, Gen’l Foreman, C. G. W. Ry., Dubuque, la. 

Brown, E. L., Supt., St. P. & D. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Blake, Robert P., Brainerd, Minn. 

Becker, P. M., P. 0. Box 27, Oelwein, la. 

Berry, John F., C. G. W. Round House, W. St. Paul, Minn. 

Blood, T. L., 413 Wacouta St., St. Paul, Minn. 

Butler, Wm. W., Amer. Car and Foundry Co., 1307 Fisher Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Bayfield, H. A., Draughtsman, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Bayless, H. C., 308 Ridgewood Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Baker, W. F., Chief Clerk, G.,N. Ry., Melrose, Minn. 


44 


Burch, E. P., C. E., Twin City Rapid Transit Co., 517 Sixth Ave. S.E., Minne¬ 
apolis, Minn. 

Bennett, H. J., Foreman, M. & St. L. Shops, Fort Dodge, la. 

Boyce, C. F., Student, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Brittigan, E., Machinist, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Case, C. W., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Cormack, Wm, Stevens Point, Wis. 

Cushing, Geo. W., 308 Western Union Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Cullen, Janies K., Sec’y Niles Tool Works, Hamilton, Ohio. 

Connolly, J. J., Supt. Motive Power, D. S. S. &, A. R. R., Marquette, Mich. 
Conradson, P. H., Chemist, Galena Oil Co., Franklin, Pa. 

Clark, T. E., Gen’l Supt., M. & St. L. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Christie, A., Master Car Builder, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Child, D. P., Car Foreman, M. & St. L. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Curry, Howard, Trav. Engineer, N. P. R. R., 870 Park St., St. Paul, Minn. 
Child, A., Gen’l Car Foreman, N. P. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Covert, H. H., Gen’l Foreman, St. P. & D. R. R., 1811 West 1st St., Duluth, 

Minn 


Corns, S. T., Car Foreman, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Collier, F. P., Lappin Brake Shoe Co., The Rookery, Chicago Ill 

Corbett, John Foreman Machine Shop, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Currier Frank, Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Connolly, J. J., Foreman Tinshop, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Carson, Thos C., Special R. R. Agent, Carnegie Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Carlton L. M., Air Brake Inspector, C. & N. W. Ry., Eagle Grove, la. 

Calev S T.t' ’ 1 P R la ', A f t aild B ° iler Ins P' ctor ’ Globe Minneapolis, Minn. 

Corneahv m'C i Insp ' ct ° r ’ So ° Line - ShOT '>>»»> Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Corneaby, M F Foreman, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Cox Thos., Asst. Foreman Boilermaker, C. M. & St. P. Ry.,3202 Cedar Ave 
Minneapolis, Minn. a r Ave., 

Cannon, T. E„ Master Mechanic, G. N. Ry., Barnesville, Minn. 

e ” a ”’ P -’ Storekeeper, D. S. S. & A. Ry., Marquette, Mich. 

Chubb, A Foreman Car Repairs, C. B. & Q. Ry., L a Crosse, Wis. 

Cowles, Wm. P„ 3227 Portland Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Cook, W. J., Vice President McGuire Mfg. Co., Oak Park Ill. 

Curtis, F. W., Train Master, Soo Line, Enderlin, N. D. 

Cornell, A. J., Machinist, Soo Line, Minneapolis, Minn 

cZ b a H E ; Normal Z F ° re “ an ’ St ’ P «* Mi ”"' 

Dickson Geo., Gen’l Foreman, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Dallas, W. C„ Galena Oil Co., Franklin, Pa. 

DvciZm’ r f" G “’' St ° rekCeper, ' N - P - R - R - st - Paul, Minn. 

Dyer, F. M„ Galena OifCo., 305 Lyndale Ave. N„ Minneapolis, Minn 

DafeZZZ’o” 1 *'’ Ml “' Transfer R - v ’’ Minnesota Transfer, 
ale, C. H„ Pres. Peerless Rubber Mfg. Co., 16 Warren St., New York Citv 

i Minf. ’ DraU8,]tSn,a ' 1 ’ M ' & St ' L - R -''" Lake Shops Min^ap- 

Doerr, W. A., Foreman Painter, D. & I. R. R. R„ Two Harbors, Minn. 


45 


Dinan, Arthur, Gen’l Foreman, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., 808 Tuscarora Ave., St. 
Paul, Minn. 

Darrach, Robert, Foreman Boilermaker, C. G. W. Ry., Oelwein, la. 

Dennis, A. P., Treas. Standard Coupler Co., 26 Courtlandt St., New York. 
Deming, Geo. F., Carpenter Steel Co., Chicago, Ill. 

Dittrich, A. C., Foreman Boilermaker, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneap¬ 
olis, Minn. 

Dickson, John, Instructor, Mech. Arts High School, 367 E. University Ave., 
St. Paul, Minn. 

Dean, Nat C., Carbon Steel Co. and Fox Pressed Steel Equipment Co., Fisher 
Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Donkin, E. A., Chief Train Despatcher, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Daniel, Lester, Student, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Davis, Chas. H., Civil Engineer, 99 Cedar St., New York City. 

Doucett, 0. M., Supt. Air Brakes, C. G. W. Ry., Oelwein, la. 

Ellis, J. J., Supt. Motive Power, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 
Eggleton, R. J., St. Paul, Minn. 

Ettinger, C. D., Murphy Varnish Co., Chicago, Ill. 

Elliott, R. J., Chief Clerk P. A., N. P. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Edwards, H. W., Resident Engineer, G. N. Ry., Spokane, Wash. 

Eckburg, J. A., Air Brake Inspector, M. & St. L. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Erickson, John, Foreman Blacksmith, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn,. 
Earl, Roy, Car Dept., C. M. & St. P. Ry.,3038 5th Ave. S., Minneapolis,Minn. 
Farmer, F. B. Inspector, Westinghouse Air Brake Co., 634 Endicott Bldg., St. 
Paul, Minn. 

Foque, T. A., Asst. Mech. Supt., Soo Line, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Fitzpatrick, J. J., Foreman Boilermaker, M. & St. L. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Flannigan, H. W., Foreman Painter, C. G. W. Rv., Oelwein, la. 

Fleischer, J. F., Gen’l Foreman, C. & N. W. Ry., Eagle Grove, la. 

Furry, Frank W., Gen’l Manager Ohio Injector Co., 1302 Monadnock Bldg., 
Chicago, Ill. 

Fernstrom, H., Chief Engineer, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Frey, N., Master Mechanic, C. B. & Q. Ry., La Crosse, Wis. 

Flather, J. J., Prof. Mech. Eng., State University, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Fowler, F. M., Car Foreman, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., Hudson, Wis. 

Fleichner, Jno., Gen’l Car Foreman, C. St. P. M. & O. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Forbes, S. F., C. of N. J. Ry., Patterson, N. J. 

Felton, R. P., 101 2d St. N. E., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Greatsinger, J. L., Pres. D. & I. R. R. R., Duluth, Minn. 

Griffin, T. A., Pres. Griffin Wheel & Foundry, Western Union Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Garratt, M. A., 1434 Monadnock Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Goodman, J. E., Gen’l Air Brake Inspector, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Gregory, Geo., Trav. Engineer, C. G. W. Ry., Oelwein, la. 

Gould,Geo. W., Road Foreman,Soo Line,Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis,Minn. 
Goodyear, J. H., Asst. Supt., B. & S. Ry., Galeton, Pa, 

Gilliland, D. J., Flood-Conklin Co., Newark, N. J. 

Goehrs, Henry, Master Car Builder, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Gustafson, Chas., Foreman Blacksmith, D. & I. R. Ry., Two Harbors, Minn. 


46 


Gallagher, G. A., Master Mechanic, D. M. R. & N. Ry., Swan River, Minn. 
Gould, Chas. M., The Gould Coupler Co., Depew, N. Y. 

Gowing, J. P., with Pratt & Lambert, 372 26th St., Chicago, Ill. 

Gipple, John L., Foreman Painter, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 
Gilbert, T. J., C. G. W. Ry., 547 Broadway, St. Paul, Minn. 

Gregory, Chas. F., C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., Sioux City, la. 

Gill, J. H., Mech. Eng. Dept., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Goodell, G. H., Mech. Engineer, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Gordon, Frank L., Streeter Brake Shoe Co., 707 G. N. Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Haines, W. S., Div. Master Mechanic, Soo Line, Gladstone, Mich. 

Hinson, J. A., National Car Coupler Co., 1126 Monadnock Bldg., Chicago, 111. 
Hibbard, H. Wade, Prof. Mech. Engineering, Sibley College, Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y. 

Hallet, R. C., Haldreth Varnish Co., 1715 G. N. Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Hemstreet, F. E., Inspector, G. N. Ry., Seattle, Wash. 

Hogan, Sylvester, Cleveland City Forge and Iron Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 
Hinkens, Geo. F., Foreman Blacksmith, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 
Hinkens, Henry, Foreman Blacksmith, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Haney, Wm. G., Engineer, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Healey, J. A., Air Brake Mach., C. G. W. Ry., 636 Linden St., St. Paul, Minn. 
Hurley, Edw. N., Pres. Standard Pneumatic Tool Co., Marquette Bldg., 
Chicago, Ill. 

Herr, E. M., 6338 Marchand St., Pittsburg, Pa. 

Hammond, E. D., Div. Storekeeper, G. N. Ry., St. Cloud, Minn. 

Horn, H. J., Jr., Supt., N. P. Ry., Livingstone, Mont. 

Hastings, Clive, Special Mach. Apprentice, N. P. Ry. Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. 
Harris, E. J., Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Rv., Austin, Minn. 

Horton, Geo. H.,Trav. Engineer, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Harrity, A., Master Mechanic, B. A. & P. Ry., Anaconda, Mont. 

Hill, J. N., Vice Pres, and Gen’l Manager E. M. Ry., Duluth, Minn. 

Hargreaves, Geo., Purchasing Agent, C. B. & Q. R. R., Chicago, Ill. 

Hicks, W. T., Gen’l Foreman, M. & St. L. Ry., Fort Dodge, la. 

Howell, F. B., Railway Supplies, Pioneer Press Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. 

Hoban, John, Foreman, C. B. & Q. Ry., Dayton’s Bluff, St. Paul, Minn. 
Higgins, C. C., Student, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Harrison, W. L., Supt. Shops, West Superior, Wis. 

Haines, W. S., Master Mechanic, B. & 0. Ry., Newark, 0. 

Hastings, F. F., Supt., Minn. Transfer Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Isbester, T., Westinghouse Air Brake Co., 774 Rookery Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Johnson, W. 0., Foreman T. and M., St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 
Johnson, W. W., 4037 Girard Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Jones, B. M., 81 Milk St., Boston, Mass. 

Johnson, W. W., Loco. Foreman, N. P. Ry., Duluth, Minn. 

James, Alfred, John James Co., La Crosse, Wis. 

Johnson, J. T., Foreman Boiler Shop, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Julian, Frank, Chemist, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Johnson, John B., Trav. Engineer, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Jackson, Thos. B., Storekeeper, C. & N. W. Ry., Winona, Minn. 


47 


Johnston, W. W., Student, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Kenyon, Geo. M., Railway Supplies, Endicott Arcade, St. Paul, Minn. 

Kline, W. H., Storekeeper, E. M. Ry., 2217 Ogden Ave., West Superior, Wis. 
Kent, H. W., Kent Lubricator Co., Waukesha, Wis. 

Kelly, Wm., Master Mechanic, G. N. Ry., Hillyard, Wash. 

Kellogg, D. P., 1611 Wood St., Alameda, Cal. 

Ketchum, F. E., Asst. Supt., D. S. S. & A. Ry., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. 
Kittredge, C. T., Chief Train Despatcher, G. N. Ry., Grand Forks, N. D. 
Kennedy, F. W., Chief Train Despatcher, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., Itasca, Wis. 
Kelley, John W., Foreman, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Kline, Norman, Div. Supt., N. P. Ry., Glendive, Mont. 

Kaercher, Wm., Draughtsman, 104 Lumber Exchange, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Kuhlman, H. V., Manager Standard Railway Equipment Co., 706 G.N.Bldg., 
Chicago, Ill. 

Kurrasch, H. C., Foreman, C. St. P. M. & O. Ry., Hudson, Wis. 

Leslie, J. S., Rotary Snow Plow Co., Paterson, N. J. 

Lyon, Tracy, Gen’l Supt., C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Ludford, Geo., Car Foreman, Soo Line, St. Paul. Minn. 

Lyddon, H. A., Gen’l Foreman, N. P. Ry., Mandan, N. D. 

Lord, J. T., Master Mechanic, N. P. Ry., Winnipeg, Man. 

Lake, J. J., Foreman Car Dept., G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

LaParle, W. D., 6207 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. 

Loomis, H. N., Trojan Car Coupler Co., 49 Wall St., New York City. 

Larkin, E. J., Railway Supplies, 927 Guaranty Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Lundquest, Aaron, Foreman Car Dept., G. N. Ry., East Spokane, Wash. 
Leach, W. F., Foreman Painter, M. & St. L. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Leonard, Samuel, Foreman Boilermaker, C. St. P. M. & O.Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 
Lovell, Alfred, Supt. Motive Power, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Lester, F. A., Midvale Steel Co., Old Colony Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Lombard, E. J., 501 Gen’l Office N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Lantry, J., Engineer, C. M. & St. P. Ry., 2606 Bloomington Ave., Minneap¬ 
olis, Minn. 

Long, J. H., Cloud Steel Truck Co., 1425 Old Colony Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Larkin, J. P., Railway Supplies, 430 Endicott Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. 

Liddell, Thos., Round House Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Mitchell, S. D. 
Lamont, R. P., Simplex Railway Appliance Co., Fisher Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Louie, Jas. H., N. & W. Ry., Roanoke, Ya. 

McIntosh, Wm., Supt. Motive Power, Central of New Jersey Ry., Jersey 
City, N.J. 

McNair, H. C., Endicott Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. 

McCulloch, C. A., Foreman, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
McDougal, Geo. A., Carnegie Steel Co., Minneapolis, Minn. 

MacKay, D. M., Engineer, Soo Line, Enderlin, N. D. 

McKee, M. E., Supt. Air Brakes, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

McFarlane, Wm., Gen’l Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Mason City, la. 
McCaughey, F. J., White Pass & Yukon River R. R., Skaguay, Alaska. 
Molleson, Geo. E., Tyler Tube and Pipe Co., 39 Cortlandt St., New York City. 
Mack, Jno. D., New England Machine Co., Boston, Mass. 


48 


Morrison, Wm., Yard Foreman, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Mallory, F. C., Foreman Painter, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Meehan, M. M., Galena Oil Co., Royce Ave., Toronto, Can. 

Mings, A. H., Bradley-Watkins Lumber Co., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Montgomery, Hugh, Foreman, C. & N. W. Ry., Waseca, Minn. 

Maine, M. M., Trav. Engineer, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Austin, Minn. 

* Malthouse, J. E., Engineer, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Moir, Wm., Master Mechanic, N. P. Ry., Spokane, Wash. 

McLean, Geo., C. G. W. Ry., 463 East Page St., St. Paul, Minn. 

Moses, Sanborn, Foreman Boiler Maker, D. & I R. R. R.,Two Harbors, Minn. 
Morgan, J. H., Gen’l Car Foreman, N. P. & M. Shop, Winnipeg, Man. 
Mooney, J. E., Engineer, C. B. & N. R. R., 1004 15th Ave. S. E., Minneap¬ 
olis, Minn. 

Madill, Thos., Sherwin Williams Co., 2629 Stewart Ave., Chicago, Ill. 

Milner, Jas., Schoen Pressed Steel Co., 1016 Monadnock Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Miller, L. S., Gen’l Manager, Seattle & International Ry., Seattle, Wash. 
McHenry, E. H., Chief Engineer, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

McIntosh, Wm. W., Loco. Engineer, 324 University Ave. N. E., Minneap¬ 
olis, Minn. 

Marshall, J. W., Detroit White Lead Works, 2410 Robinwood Ave., Toledo, 0. 
Mead, C. H., Gen’l Foreman Car Dept., E. M. Ry., West Superior, Wis. 

Nicoll, W. R., Room 501, N. P. General Offices, St. Paul, Minn. 

Nicoll, Alexander, Engineer, State Capitol Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. 

Noble, L. C., French Spring Co., 1414 Fisher Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Nelson, W. T., Round House Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Ry., 601 17th Ave. S., 
Minneapolis, Minn. 

Norton, W. B., 452 So. E. St., Tacoma, Wash. 

Newhall, W. B., Student, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Owens, Thos., Supt., D. & I. R. Ry., Two Harbors, Minn. 

Opie, J., Loco. Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Austin, Minn. 

Olson, A. N., Foreman, Soo Line, Portal, N. D. 

Orme, H., 880 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 

Olsen, H. 0., Machinist, D. & I. R. R. R., Two Harbors, Minn. 

O’Brien, John, Yardmaster, C. M. & St. P. Ry., 405 Harrison Ave., St. Paul, 
Minn. 

Orchard, Wm., Car Inspector, St. P. & D. R. R., 619 E. Third St., Duluth, Minn. 
Otis, Spencer, Rooms 3 and 4, U. S. Nat. Bank Bldg., Omaha, Neb. 

Pattee, J. 0., Supt. Motive Power, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Preston, H. L., Master Car Builder, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., Hudson, Wis. 
Parker, C. N., Parker & Topping, Foundrymen, Endicott Arcade, St. Paul, Minn. 
Player, John, Supt. Motive Power, A. T. & S. F. Ry., Topeka, Kan. 

Poole, I. G., Gen’l Foreman Car Dept., Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minne¬ 
apolis, Minn. 

Possons, Edw., Chief Draughtsman, N. P. Offices, St. Paul, Minn. 

Prest, F. G., Purchasing Agent, N. P. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Percy, Wm., Gen’l Car Foreman, N. P. R. R., Brainerd, Minn. 

Parker, G. R., Air Brake Inspector, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Powers, A. A., Loco. Foreman, C. M. & St. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 




49 


Pheenev, J. R., Trainmaster, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Penticost, Horace, Foreman Blacksmith, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Post, Geo. A., Pres. Standard Coupler Co., 160 Broadway, New York Citj T . 
Parker, W. A., Foreman, C. M. & St. P.Ry., South Minneapolis Shops, Minne¬ 
apolis, Minn. 

Patterson, T. F., Loco. Foreman, C. P. Ry., Estevan P. 0., Asso., Can. 
Parnell, Wm. Air Brake Mach., C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry.. St. Paul, Minn. 
Quincey, C. F., Treas. Q. & C. Co., Western Union Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Quimby, F. L., Conductor, Soo Line, Enderlin, N. D. 

Robinson, H. P., Editor “Railway Age,’’ Chicago, Ill. 

Royal, Geo., Jr., Nathan Mfg. Co., 150 Old Colony Building, Chicago, Ill. 
Richardson, A. G., Ewald Iron Co., St. Louis, Mo. 

Reynolds, 0. H., Loco. Engineering, New York City. 

Robb, J. M., Gen’l Foreman, C. G. VV. Ry., Oelwein, la. 

Reynolds, Jno. N., “The Railroad Gazette,’’ Chicago, Ill. 

Rand, A. B., Master Mechanic, Minn. Transfer Co., 301 Wilder Ave , Merriam 
Park, Minn. 

Roope, T., Master Mechanic, Sioux City & Nor. Ry., Sioux City, la. 

Ristine. F. N., Master Mechanic, N. P. R. R., Fargo, N. D. 

Reisinger, 0. D., C. G. W. Ry., 644 Curtiss St., St. Paul, Minn. 

Robinson, J. W., American Steel Foundry Co., 509 Olive St., St. Louis, Mo. 
Rossiter, C. W., Round House Foreman, N. P. Ry., 619 8th Ave. N., Minne¬ 
apolis, Minn. 

Ramwell, R., Machinist, C. G. W. Rv., 439 Case St., St. Paul, Minn. 
Raymond, H. S., National Tube Works Co., Chicago, Ill. 

Robinson, W. C. H., G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Rusche, John, 190 Kane St., La Crosse, Wis. 

Richardson, W. P., Student, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Riddell, Chas., Standard Steel Co., 1217 Monadnock Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Rink, Geo. W., Draughtsman, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Smades, M. W., 9th Ave. N. and 22d St., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Steele, Jos. A., Gen’l Foreman, G. N. Ry., East Spokane, Wash. 

Sanborn, J. N., Master Mechanic, B. & N. M. Ry., Brainerd, Minn. 

Slayton, Clarence E., Dubuque, la. 

Slayton, F. T., Trav. Engineer, C. G. W. Ry., 1403 N. 2d St., St. Joseph, Mo. 
Seaton, Guy, Storekeeper, G. N. Ry., Great Falls, Mont. 

Sullivan, S. F., Ewald Iron Co., 547 Marquette Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Slavin, Jas., Loco. Foreman, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Sanborn, Jno. G., Supt., Ameiican Brake Beam Co., Waukegan, 111. 

Scott, W. A., Gen’l Manager, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Schevers, A. J., McConway & Torley Co., 204 G. N. Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
Sullivan, P. K., 1049 Hague Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 

Smith, W. C., Civil Engineer, B. & N. M. R. R., Brainerd, Minn. 

Schoff, W. N., Purchasing Agent, St. P. & D. R. R , St. Paul, Minn. 

Stensette, P., Car Foreman, G. N. Ry.,504 International Ave., Grand Forks, N. D. 
Seivereight, J. G., Ro.und House Foreman, C. G. W. Ry., Oelwein, la. 

Shortliff, Thos., Loco. Foreman, G. N. Ry., Blackfoot, Mont. 

Sands, Edw. F., Secy. Robinson & Cary Co., St. Paul, Minn. 


50 


Snow, F. W., Valentine & Co., 390 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. 

Sinclair, Angus, Editor “Locomotive Engineering,” 95 Liberty St., New 
York City. 

Stoddart, W., Railway Contractor, N. Y. Life Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. 

Stahl, H. A., Asst. Engineer, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Shaver, L. E., Frt. Foreman, N. P. Ry., 610 Mississippi St., St. Paul, Minn. 
Scarratt, M. F., Foreman, N. P. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Stillman, Lee, Foreman, N. P. Rv., Como Shops, St. Paul, Minn. 

Smith, H. E., Asst. Prof. Mech. Eng., State University, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Smith, R., Gen’l Foreman, N. P. Ry., Jamestown, N. D. 

Smith, L. L., Div. Master Mechanic, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Shepardson, Geo. D., Prof. Elec. Eng. Dept., University of Minnesota, Minne¬ 
apolis, Minn. 

Springer, F. W., Elec. Eng. Dept., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Spear, S., Engineer, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Tate, J. M., Instr. Foundry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Taylor, John, Master Mechanic, C. M. & St. P. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Towne, H. A., 54 Third St. S., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Topping, H. W., Parker & Topping, Foundrymen, Endicott Arcade, St. Paul, 
Minn. 

Toothc, H. W., Midvale Steel Co., Nicetown, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Toltz, Max, Mech. Engineer, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Tyler, Geo. W., Gen’l Car Inspector, G. N. Ry., Willmar, Minn. 

Taylor, H. G., with Jas. B. Sipe & Co , 90 Federal St., Allegheny, Pa. 

Tracy, G. G., 1522 7th St. S. E., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Tisdale, J. E., Round House Foreman, C. & N. W. Ry., Winona, Minn. 
Thompson, Perry, G. N. Ry., Melrose, Minn. 

Tonge, John, Master Mechanic, M. & St. L. Ry., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Van Cleve, J. R., White Pass & Yukon River R. R., Skaguay, Alaska. 

Vaughn, H. H., M. E. Q. & C. Co., 700 Western Union Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Van Alstine, Dank, Master Mechanic, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Ward, C. F., Master Mechanic, D. & W. R. R., Cloquet, Minn. 

Wescott, E. A., Master Car Builder, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Wright, W. H. S., West. Agt. Ill. Steel Co., 401 Pioneer Press, St. Paul. Minn. 
Warren, G. L., Mech. Engineer, C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 
Williams, E. A., Mech. Supt., Soo Line, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Willard, D., Asst. Gen’l Manager, B. & O. Ry., Baltimore, Md. 

Welliver, Frank, Asst. Supt., Soo Line, Gladstone, Mich. 

Williams, F. W., Div. Master Mechanic, D. L. & W. Ry., Syracuse, N. Y. 
Whittaker, James, Gen’l Foreman, St. P. & D. R. R., St. Paul, Minn. 

Woodruff, S. N., Foreman, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Woodruff, S. H., Master Mechanic, Soo Line, Gladstone, Mich. 

Woods, J. L., 9S0 Old Colony Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Watson, Wm., Jr., Union League Club, Chicago, Ill. 

Ward, M. E., Chicago Car Roofing Co., Old Colony Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 

Weiss, Geo. L., Gen’l Manager, Butler Draw-bar Attach. Co., Cleveland, 0. 
Willey, A. N., Foreman Engine House, G. N. Ry., Melrose, Minn. 

Wilkinson, John C., Foreman Machine Shop, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 


51 


Wentworth, R. W., Asst. Sales Agt., Carnegie Steel Co., 408 Guaranty Loan, 
Minneapolis, Minn. 

Wright, R. V., 286 Virginia Ave., St. Faul, Minn. 

Williams, Jos. H., Jenkins Bros., 31 Canal St., Chicago, Ill. 

Wennerlund, E. K., Special Machine Apprentice, C. G. W. Ry., Oelwein, la. 
Wilson, C. J , Div. Supt., N. P. Rv., Jamestown, N. D. 

Williams, C. R., Engineer, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Washburn, E. C., Washburn Coupler Co., Guaranty Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Yorke, Harry, Machine Shop Foreman, C. G. W. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Young, Jas. A., Washburn Coupler Co., Guaranty Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn. 
Young, Parker J., 904 26th Ave. N. E., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Yoerg, H., Draughtsman, G. N. Ry., St. Paul, Minn. 

Zachritz, Geo. P., Gen’l Car Inspector, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneap¬ 
olis, Minn. 

Zemlin, John, Foreman Blacksmith, Soo Line, Shoreham Shops, Minneap¬ 
olis, Minn. 






NEXT MEETING SEPTEMBER nth, 1900, 


WEST HOTEL, MINNEAPOLIS. 


T. A. FOQUE, Secretary 












BROWN &. CO., INCORPORATED, PITTSBURG. PA. MADE SINCE 1S25 


•. . official proceedings . .. 

St. Louis Railway Club 

Vnlume V. MARCH 8. 1001 8P Number 11 


•Published Monthly by St. Louis Railway Club, ^ „ Subscription, $1.00 per Year. 

Fourth Floor, Union Station, St. Louis. * * * * Single Copies, 15 Cents. 

Entered at St. Louis Post-offiot; as second-class Matter in March, 1898. 


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OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS 

St. Louis Railway Club. 


MARCH 8, 1901. 


Volume 5. Containing- paper by Prof. Geo. D. Shepardson, of the 
Number 11. University of Minnesota, on “ Electric Train Lighting-.” 

Also reply to Question No. 32 , on “The Correct Signal, 
Normal Clear or Normal Danger,” by Mr. Henry 
Miller, Asst. Supt., Burlington Route. 


OFFICERS 1900-1901. 


PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: 

Jno. J. BaulCH, Traffic Manager, Interstate Car Transfer Co., St. Louis. 


First Vice Pres’t, - H. C. BARNARD, 
Supt. Terminals, Southern Railway, 
E. St. Louis, Ill. 

Second Vice-Pres’t, - C. MILLARD, 
Gen’l Mgr. C. P. & S. L. R. R. Co., 
Springfield, Ill. 

Third Vice Pres’t, JAMESSTANNARD, 
Supt. B. & B. Wabash R. R., Moberly, 
Mo. 

Treasurer, - • S. G. SCARRITT, 

V-Prest. Scarritt-Comstock Furni¬ 
ture Co., St. Louis, Mo. 

Secretary, - - E. A. CHENERY, 

Supt. Telgli. T. R. R. Association. 
Union Station, St. Louis. 


EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

E. L. ADREON, Pres’t American Brake 
Co., St. Louis. 

E. S. MARSHALL, American Steel Foun¬ 

dry Co., Wells Building, St. Louis. 

H. W. CLARKE, Supt. M. & O. R. R., 
Cairo, Ills. 

EDWIN DUNLOP, Supt. Terminal R. R. 
Ass’ 11 , St. Louis, Mo. 

F. A. JOHANN, Railway Supplies, 73 and 

74 Laclede Building, St. Louis. 

GEO. B, LEIGHTON, Pres’t. Los Angeles 
Terminal Ry., St. Louis. 

J. A. CARNEY, Div. M. M., C. B. & Q. R. R, 
Beardstown, Ill. 


The meeting was called to order in the parlors of the Southern 
Hotel, at three o’clock p. m., by President Jno. J. Baulch, the fol¬ 
lowing members and visitors being present: 


K. L. Adreon. 

Eh L. Adreon, Jr. 
H. Carroll Alford. 


Frank E. Aufenger. 
H. W. Ballou. 

H. C. Barnard. 


Harry L. Baur. 
Jno. J. Baulch. 
W. O. Beckley. 



















PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


L. W: Berry. 

E. P. Bryan, Jr. 

M. Buckley. 

C. P. Cass. 

E. A. Chenery. 

Joe Clough. 

W. P. Cosper. 

W. S. Danes. 

C. H. Doebler. 

S. M. Dolan. 

E. Dunlop. 

O. M. Edwards. 
Mark Ewing-. 

Leo Faust. 

B. W. Frauentlial. 

T. M. Gallagher. 
J. A. Gohen. 

E. H. Grant. 

Geo. A. Hancock. 
J. A. Heether. 

P. J. Hickey. 

C. C. High am. 

C. A. Hooper. 

W. H. Hooper. 

L. D. Hopkins. 

H. H. Humphrey. 
E. A. Jack, Jr. 


F. A. Johann. 

B. V. H. Johnson. 

C. S. Kennedy. 

A. R. Klebba. 

Julius W. Koch. 
Chas. Koons. 

C. L. Leslie. 

G. S. McKee. 

J. R. Marmion. 

E. S. Marshall. 
Henry Miller. 

B. Morehead. 

L. H. Mummed. 

C. S. Needham. 

C. A. Nelson. 

John W. Nute. 

F. E. Palmer. 

J. M. Perry. 

W. M. Prall. 

Edw. L. Raidler. 

A. E. Robbins. 

A. Robertson. 

F. A. Roby. 

G. B. Ross. 

E. C. Sawyer. 
Sandford G. Scarritt 

F. C. Sebring. 


Geo. D. Shepardson. 
M. F. Smearman. 
Jas. Stannard. 

J. W. Steele. 

A. G. Steinbrenner. 
J. H. Taylor. 

A. Thebo. 

W. J. Thornton. 

F. H. Ustick. 

J. A. Vena-ble. 

J. F. Victor. 

H. A. Wahlert. 

C. E. Walker. 

J. S. Walsh, Jr. 
James A. Warren. 
Chas. Waughop. 

S. D. Webster. 

Chas. E. Weller. 

C. J. Wendling. 

G. O. Widner. 

C. F. Wieland. 

I. H. Wilber. 

J. H. Winenow. 

A. S. Work. 

M. Wuerpel, Jr. 

Total, 88. 


The President: The gentlemen will please come to order. We 
would be glad to have every gentleman present registered, whether 
a member of the Club or not. It is a method that we use in the 
St. Louis Railway Club instead of calling the roll. 

Each member of the Club has been supplied with a copy of the 
Official Proceedings, and if there are no objections or errors 
noticed, they will stand approved as read. 

The Secretary has the names of the applicants that were read 
at the last meeting, and they have been passed on by the Execu¬ 
tive Committee to-day and are now ready for the action of the 
Club, It is customary for some member after the reading of the 


EJECTED TO MEMBERSHIP. 


names, to make a motion that the Secretary cast the ballot, if 
there are no objections to any of these names. Mr. Secretary, will 
you read the list? 

• 

The Secretary then read the list of applicants for membership 
as approved by the Executive Committee, as follows : 

ELECTED TO MEMBERSHIP. 

TO ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. 

Wm. O. Beckley, Condr. Wabash R. R., 4173 Delmar ave., St. 
Louis, Mo. Recommended by Jas. Stannard and E. A. Chener}\ 

C. M. Boswell, Supt. Ark. & Choctaw Ry., Texarkana, Texas. 
Recommended by A. H. Handlan and W. T. Donovan. 

T. A. Brown, Supt. M. P., La. & Ark. R. R., Stamps, Ark. 
Recommended by F. A. Johann and E. A. Chenery. 

J. M. Perry, Leverman T. R. R. A., 3410 Eads ave., St. Louis, 
Mo. Recommended by O. P. Phillips and E. A. Chenery. 

H. E. Yarnall, Pur. Agent C. O. & G. R. R., Little Rock, Ark. 
Recommended by Jno. W. Nute and E. A. Chenery. 

TO ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP. 

Frederick E. Bauscli, C. E., Pgh. Plate Glass Co., Crystal City, 
Mo. Recommended by Jno. J. Baulch and E. A. Chenery. 

W. G. Brenneke, Civil Engr., 1000 Fullerton Bldg., St. Louis, 
Mo. Recommended by S. E. Freeman and W. A. Layman. 

L. P. Delano, Mngr. St. Louis Car Co., St. Louis, Mo. Rec¬ 
ommended by A. G. Steinbrenner and Jno. J. Baulch. 

E. B. Fa}% Civil Engr., 1000 Fullerton Bldg., St. Louis, Mo. 
Recommended by S. E. Freeman and W. A. Layman. 

J. N. Maher, Gen. Supt. Scullin-Gallagher I. & S. Co., St. Louis, 
Mo. Recommended by F. A. Johann and T. M. Gallagher. 

The President: Gentlemen, you have heard the list of names. 
What is your pleasure? 

• Mr. Chas. Koons (St. Louis Car Co.): I move that the Sec¬ 
retary be authorized to cast the ballot. (Seconded.) 

The President: Gentlemen, you have heard the motion, sec¬ 
onded. Are you ready for the question? Those in favor will 
please say “aye”, contrary, “no”. The ayes have it, and those 
gentlemen are elected members of the St. Louis Railway Club. 


4 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


Gentlemen, we have with us this afternoon, Prof. Georg-e D. 
Shepardson, of the University of Minnesota, at Minneapolis, who 
has very kindly prepared a paper to be read before this Club. Mr. 
Johann, will you kindly introduce Prof. Shepardson? 

Mr. Johann (Ry. Supplies) : Mr. President, I have the honor 
and take great pleasure in introducing- to you and throug-h you to 
the officers and members of the St. Louis Railway Club, Prof. 
Georg-e D. Shepardson, of the University of Minnesota. (Ap¬ 
plause.) 

Prof. Shepardson: Mr. President and g-entlemen : I wish to 
thank you for the very hearty and exceedingly cordial reception 
which you g-ave to me and the Governer yesterday (laug-hter and 
applause) I say to me and the Governor, because you received me 
before you did him. I do not know whether I shall be able to 
come up to your expectations or not. 


TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 

By Prof. Geo. D. Shepardson, University of Minnesota. 


The traveling- public becomes continually more and more.exact¬ 
ing in its demands for safety, convenience and comfort. The trav¬ 
eler of to-day, though he may have a modest income, demands and 
secures conveniences and comforts which would have satisfied the 
most exacting- millionaire a g-eneration ago. If he can not get the 
service from one public carrier, he knows he can secure it from 
another. The shrewd manager realizes that by catering to the 
demands for greater safety and comfort to the traveling public, he 
not only draws traffic from his competitors, but he actually increases 
the total amount of travel. People who dread a long, tiresome and 
dirty journey will undertake such only under dire necessity, while 
they are glad of an excuse to take a trip over a well-appointed road 
with well-ballasted roadbed and comfortable electric lighted cars. 

if 

(H. G. Prout has two readable articles along this line in En¬ 
gineering Magazine , Vol. 12, pages 6 and 213.) 

By far the larger part of passenger travel consists of business 
men who must do business to-day in one town and must be ready 
for business next morning in a distant town, and they must be 
there at business hours. One can not afford to spend those precious, 
hours helplessly waiting in a slow day train, but he insists on 
having a swift night train, so that he may do business one day in 
.St. Louis, the next in Chicago, the next in Buffalo, the next in New 
York, the next in Boston. Unless one is traveling entirely for 
pleasure, or is going over the road for the first time, he also pre¬ 
fers to take a night train, that he may avoid the monotony of the 
long day ride. 

In the early days, when railways were short and passengers rode 
on the outside or in open cars, there was little need for artificial 
light, but as the roads lengthened and trips became longer, it was 
necessary to run trains in the evening and through the night. In 
those days people were accustomed to the flickering light of the 
fire-place and of the uncertain candle, and they were easily satis¬ 
fied with any sort of light that might protect from robbery, when 
they took their memorable first ride on the steam cars. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


6 


Thomas Dixon, conductor of the “ Experiment,” a car on the 
Stockton & Darlington Railway in England, has the name of 
having furnished penny candles at his own expense for the benefit 
of his passengers, and he thereby, in 1825, became the -pioneer in 
furnishing artificial light for railway cars. 





Figr.i. Fig-. 2. 

At the Field Columbian Museum, iii Chicago, are preserved 
some early cars, relics of the days before artificial lights were fur¬ 
nished passengers. Photos of cars used in 1831 show them inno¬ 
cent of any provision for artificial light. An original car used in 
Hova Scotia (Fig. 1) in 1838, having ample seating capacity for 
four passengers, or for six small ones, shows no sign of light except 
what might come through the doors. Another car, used in 183(>, 
on the Camden & Amboy Railroad (Fig. 2 ), now a part of the Penn¬ 
sylvania system, had a glass-protected recess at each end for hold¬ 
ing a candle, so that the car for forty-eight passengers was flooded 


Fig-. 4. 













TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


/ 

with the light from two candles. A. time table of 1843 advertised 

ig. 3) train lighting-as one attraction. Until about 1868, candles 
were a not uncommon means of lighting cars in America. Model 
cars at the Paris Exhibition of 1878 used candles, and even so late 
as the World’s Fair in 1893, photographs showed that a number of 
the royal trains of Europe were so lighted. 

At an early date began the use of lamps burning vegetable or 
animal oils. On some English roads, in 1836, lamps were fixed on 
the outside of the cars somewhat like those common on cabs and 
carriages. In America the oil lamps seem always to have been 
placed inside the cars, either with or without special ventilation. 
In England and on the continent, the general practice is to lower 
the lamps through the roof of the car (Fig. 4), where they are inac¬ 
cessible to passengers. As a special privilege, some of the cars are 
provided with screens or curtains, which may be drawn over the 
lamp to reduce the light, if one wishes to attempt to sleep. The 
discovery of petroleum in large quantities in Pennsylvania, in 1860, 
gave a great impetus to artificial lighting, and the kerosene oil 
lamp soon became common. 

Gas has been used in various ways. In 1856, the Chicago & 
Galena road tried using coal gas, which was pumped into cylinders 
under each car ; within each cylinder was a rubber diaphragm or 
piston, and the gas was forced out by air pressure applied 
behind the diaphragm by means of an air pump on the car; this 
had capacity for operating six lights for twelve hours. Two years 
later England saw a train lighted by gas stored in a gas tank ten 
feet long, three and a half feet high and seven feet wide, built in 
two sections, rising and falling, like the large gas tanks for city 
lighting; this tank was placed in the baggage car, and would fur¬ 
nish gas for two lights in each of twelve cars for three hours. 
About 1874 some of the trains in England were lighted by coal gas 
from collapsible rubber bags carried on top of the cars ; these 
worked fairly well on short runs of four or five miles. As late as 
1891, some of the English trains were lighted by gas from bellows 
tanks in the baggage cars. These gas systems were troubled by 
air getting into the gas and reducing the luminosity of the flame. 
In the United States a number of roads tried coal gas compressed 
in metallic cylinders, but the luminous power was found to be, 
greatly reduced, because the pressure caused some of the constitu- 


8 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB 



that loses only about 7 per cent of its luminous power when com¬ 
pressed to 150 pounds per square inch. The gas is washed and 
scrubbed by passing through water and over iron oxide, and is then 
compressed by pumps into large receivers, whence it is piped to the 
tanks under the cars. A regulator on the car maintains a pressure 
of one-half ounce at the burners, regardless of the pressure in the 
receivers. 

The Frost Carbureter system came into use about 1884, and was 
applied to about 1,000 cars. In the Frost apparatus, air from a tank 


ents of the gas to condense and deposit in the receiver or in the 
pipes. 

In 1867, Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, began experimenting on vari¬ 
ous gases to find something that could be compressed satisfactorily 
for railway use. After three years he developed a system that has 
had marvelous success, and which is now in use (Fig. 5) on approx¬ 
imately 100,000 cars and locomotives in Europe and America. The 
Pintsch gas is made by exposing almost any cheap hydro-carbon 
oil to a high temperature, which changes it into a permanent gas 


Fig. 5. 




train lighting by klkctricity. 


9 



connected with the air brake pipes is forced through a carbureter 
tilled with absorbent material saturated with gasoline. The vapor 
is heated by the lamp, and burns partly as a truegas and partly as 
carbureted air. The company has been absorbed by a rival and the 
system is no longer being pushed. 1 

Acetylene gas has been the subject of many experiments 5^ince 
1891, when an electrical process was discovered for making its 
source cheaper. When lime and carbon are subjected to the high 
temperature of an electric furnace, they unite and form a bluish 
gray friable amorphous substance known as calcium carbide! (Ca 
C 2 ), composed of two parts of carbon and one of calcium. When 


Fig-. 6. 

thjis substance comes into contact with water (H 2 O), part of the car- 
bqn leaves the calcium and takes the hydrogen from the water, 
forming acetylene ( C 2 H 2 ), a colorless gas with an unpleasant, 
smell, but Ivhich burns with an intense white light. Acetylene 
gas has fount! a place in stationary lighting and is coming into 
some use for train lighting. The flame is apt to be smoky unless 
the burned are suitably cared for, and the gas is liable to have > 
ammoniacal impurities which under some circumstances form ex- 





10 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB 



Fio- 


/ . 






8 































tkain LIGHTING by electricity. 


11 


plosive compounds. Like every other illuminating- gas, it forms 
explosive mixtures with air. Experiments by Nichols and others 
indicate a very great depreciation in the performance of acetylene 
gas when compressed or stored. (Jour. Franklin Institute, 
150:356, Nov. 1900.) 

When the incandescent electric lamp reached a practical form, 
in 1879, its advantages were, immediately recognized, and within 
twenty-two years it has secured so strong a hold upon the market 
that about 25,000,000 lamps are now required annually to meet the 
demand. Consisting, as it does, of a 'carbon filament heated to a 
high degree of incandescence in a vacuum maintained within an 
air-tight glass globe, very little heat escapes to the outside, so 
that it may be placed safely in almost any location desired. There 



Fig. 9. 

is no open flame which may set fire to surrounding combustibles, 
and the temperature is so low that only actual contact for a long¬ 
time will carbonize or ignite very inflammable material. It heats 
the atmosphere only to a very small extent, having no open flame, 
(Figs. 6, 7, and 8.)~ There being no combustion it does not vitiate 
the'air in the least. It can be lighted without matches, and simply 
by the turn of a key or switch in the hands of any unskilled per¬ 
son may be lighted or extinguished at will and without danger. 





12 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 



There is no water vapor given off by combustion to increase the 
humidity of the air and add to the oppressiveness of a hot, sultry 
summer nig'ht, or even to intensify the stuffy features of the so- 
called atmosphere found in some of the sleepers and coaches ( not, 
of course, those in this part of the country). There is no smoke, 
no smell, nor any oil dripping on carpets or on passengers’ clothes. 

When the electric light was first applied to train lighting, even 
with the crude apparatus of that early stage in the development, it 
was hailed with delight by the traveling public. Not only did 


Fig-. 10. 

tney appreciate its many advantages for stationary lighting, but 
in connection with train lighting the public mind was saturated 
with the idea that a large proportion of the holocausts in connec¬ 
tion with railwa}’ wrecks, if not started, were at least fed and in¬ 
tensified by the inflammable substances used for car lighting. Even 
though it might not be certainly proved that the fire was actually 
started by the lamp or gas, the feeling that it might have been the 
cause put all classes of flames or light sources in the same cate¬ 
gory with the deadly car stove, against which much legislation 
was fired. Occasional explosions here or abroad left no doubt in 






TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


13 


the public mind as to the desirability of replacing all combustibles 
by electric light. When the electric berth lamp was introduced it 
proved an instant success. A sleeper with berth lights is sought 
in preference to all others. Having enjoyed the comfort of a cool 
diffused light at one’s shoulder (Figs. 9 and 10) available at any 
time during the night without disturbing the porter or any one 
else, the traveling public is satisfied with nothing less, and to-day 
no train can be called thoroughly modern and up-to-date unless it 
can advertise electric berth lights. Along with the berth lights is 
the comfort derived from the possibility of having an electric fan 
(Fig. 11) to keep the air in circulation and to mitigate the discom¬ 
fort of an atmosphere otherwise intolerably close at times. The 
modern dining car, the buffet and observation car are not complete 
without this useful adjunct. Another auxiliary the ladies never 
forget, is the possibility of heating a curling-iron without the dan¬ 
gerous and nerve-trying alcohol lamp ; for with trains equipped 
with storage batteries the ladies’ dressing room and each compart¬ 
ment may be equipped with an electric heater always ready for use 



( ; i ItJtiij 

■i 




Fig-. 11. 












14 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 



by simply inserting the tongs. The electric lighted transparen¬ 
cies (Fig. 12), or tail lights, make effective advertisements. 


Fig-. 12. Fig-. 12. 

Having outlined the advantages and pointed out some of the 
reasons why electric light equipments are demanded by the public, 
let us note the various plans that have been tried. 

A complete history of the various attempts to light trains by 
electricity would far exceed the limits of this paper. As in [all 
pioneer work, many difficulties have been encountered, enough! to 
discourage and bankrupt some promoters and enough to goad 
others to ultimate success. Some of the difficulties were those in¬ 
cident to the newness of the electrical art. Dynamos, incandescent 
lamps and storage batteries are all of comparatively recent devel¬ 
opment, and as these have been improved the conditions for suc¬ 
cessful train lighting have followed closely. In 1885, a dynamo 
taking sixty horsepower was considered a large one ; at the Chi¬ 
cago World’s Fair in 1893, a dynamo of one thousand horsepower 
was looked upon as a marvel j a few years later, the plant at Niag¬ 
ara Falls was equipped with electrical generators of five thousand 
horsepower each and having a commercial efficiency of 97 per cent. 
The incandescent lamp of to-day costs only one-third as much and 















TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


15 


is twice as efficient as the lamp of fifteen years ago. The dura¬ 
bility and performance of the storage battery haYe likewise greatly 
improved. In all lines of electrical work, great improvements have 
followed and all classes of electrical apparatus are much more re¬ 
liable and efficient than formerly. In considering the difficulties 
which have been met in the past and which have been overcome to 
a large extent, it should be borne in mind that the limitations of 
early apparatus do not necessarily apply to modern equipment, and 
the latter should be treated according to its own merits and not be 
held for the shortcomings of its ancestry. The various plans pro¬ 
posed for lighting trains by electricity may be considered under 
three heads—the use of batteries alone, dynamos alone, and com¬ 
bination of batteries and dynamos. 

The use of primary batteries was attempted for lighting several 
trains between 1883 and 1887 in France, England and America 
(See Elec. World, 2:173, 231; 3:77 ; 4:205 ; R. R. Gaz., 19:245; 
Trans. Am. Inst. Elec. Eng., 4:207). Primary batteries are an 
expensive source of electrical energy (Trans. A. I. E. E., 5:277; 
Eng . News, March 7, 1891), and can never compete with power- 
driven dynamos, either directly or through the medium of storage 
batteries. 

The use of storage batteries on trains dates from October, 1881, 
when a Pullman car running between London and Brighton, Eng¬ 
land, was equipped with storage batteries which were charged at 
London during the night by a special engine and dynamo. In 
April, 1885, the Pennsylvania road equipped eight parlor cars with 
storage batteries. The next year witnessed an active campaign by 
the two battery companies then in existence, the Julien Electric 
Company and the. Electrical Accumulator Company, and a number 
of cars were equipped. The storage battery of that day was far 
from perfect and in several cases battery lighting was abandoned. 
The Pennsylvania road has continued their use to the present day, 
the cells being charged from a stationary plant at Jersey City and 
also en route by an engine and dynamo in the baggage car. The 
early.practice was to run the cars to the charging station, where 
the exhausted cells were removed and replaced by others freshly 
charged. This required much hand labor and the handling was 
found to be very hard on the cells. The later practice is to charge 
the batteries while the car is lying in the yard for cleaning, or to 
charge them while the train is running. The objection that the 


16 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 



charging keeps the car out of service has no force in the case of 
limited trains which always lie in the yards several hours between 
trips for cleaning, inspection and minor repairs, for the batteries 
are charging while the other work is going on. Cars in suburban 
service which return to the yards for the night can be charged at 
that time, while those which are dropped at intermediate stations 
for morning and evening traffic can be charged during the day¬ 
time while cleaning. 


Fig. 13. 

The storage battery system, without any other source of power 
on the train, is admirably adapted for trains having a regular run 
such that the batteries can be charged every day. One of the best 
illustrations of the simple battery system is that used on the Bur¬ 
lington Limited, running between Chicago and Minneapolis. This 
was fully described in the Electrical World and Engineer , July 7, 
1900, and will be referred to only briefly at this time. Each car 
carries forty-eight cells of storage batteries, weighing fifty-six 
pounds each. These are carried in trays holding six cells each, 
four trays being carried in boxes (Fig. 13), one on each side of the 











TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


f 


17 


car. The batter)' equipment is less than two 
per cent, of the average weight of the cars 
in these trains. Figure 14 shows the wir¬ 
ing diagram, three cables running the whole 
length of the train, being connected between 
cars by flexible couplings near the tops of 
the vestibules ; the battery and lamp cir¬ 
cuits of each car are connected between two 
of the cables, thus equalizing the discharge 
of the batteries ; when charging, the dyna¬ 
mo is connected between the outside cables 
so that each battery is charged at practic¬ 
ally the same voltage. 

Each train leaves one terminal in the 
evening and arrives at its destination the next 
morning. While the yard men are cleaning 
the train, the batteries are charged without 
removal. The batteries are cleaned (Fig. 15) 
about once a month. At the Minneapolis 
end, the batteries are charged by a dynamo 
driven by a gasoline engine under the care 
of the yard foreman, who devotes about 
three hours per day to the charging and to inspecting the batteries 
and lamps. At the Chicago yards, current is furnished from a 
steam plant in the round house, where an engineer takes care of 
the steam plant, which furnishes steam heat for the round house, 
as well as power for the train batteries. In the yards, an elec¬ 
trician and helper take care of the electrical equipment, cleaning 
and renewing the batteries (Fig. 15) and lamps as required. During 
the run between Chicago and Minneapolis no attention is paid to 
the lighting system, except that the train men turn the lamps on 
and ofl as required. The lig'hts are perfectly steady and do not 
fall off in intensity to any noticeable extent during the run, the 
voltage falling* from 97 to 94 volts and sometimes falling as low as 
80 volts. Owing to the time of the run, it occurs that the lights 
are brightest in the evening when the train first stands in the 
Union Station, in contrast with other trains, and it arrives in the 
morning, when the lights are still good, but are not needed. The 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul road has a train between the' 
same cities which also is lighted from storage batteries. They are 


JACK FOft 
AMMETER 



•h— i TO CHARGING STATION 


Figr. 14. 

































18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 

now experimenting- with an axle-lig'hting equipment on this train, 
which is known as their crack daylight train, arriving in Minneap¬ 
olis at 10:50 p. m., its companion reaching Chicago at about the 
same time. 

For long runs the battery with capacity for lighting the whole 
train throughout the trip would be too heavy, and some provision 
should be made for renewing the charge en route. On the North 
Coast Limited train, of the Northern Pacific, running* between St. 
Paul and Portland, a distance of 2,056 miles, each car carries a 
storage battery and has the lights divided into several circuits. 
During the night the lamps are lighted from an engine and dynamo 
in the baggage car. When passing through tunnels during the 
daytime, and when changing locomotives during the night, part of 
the lights in each car can be connected with the storage battery. 
With such use the batteries hold up from one terminal to the other, 
and are charged at each end of the line while the train is being 
cleaned and inspected. As the cars are liable to be transferred to 
other trains during part of the year, each car has an auxiliary 
equipment of oil lamps for use at such times. 



Fig. 15. 






TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


19 


On account of the deficiencies of the early storage batteries, 
various attempts have been made to operate electric lamps without 
batteries. The simplest way would be to drive the dynamo directly 
from the car axle, but some source of power must then be supplied 
to operate the lamps when the train was at a standstill. Other 
sources of power were therefore sought. In 1884, Preece tried an 
engine operated by compressed air pumped into a reservoir by a 
pump attached to the car axles. Similar schemes were patented in 
this country by Moskowitz. In a few cases an oil engine has been 



Pi-. 16 . 

tried, and it has even been proposed (Scientific American , 32 :130, 
March 3, 1900), to use the compressed gas now used for lighting 
to drive a gas engine and a dynamo. Another plan was to place a 
steam boiler with engine and dynamo in the baggage car, or in a 
special car for furnishing light and steam heat. This was tried on 
an English road, and also was used for about two years (1890-1892) 
on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road. About the same time 
several trains on the government road in Cape Colony each had a 
boiler with engine and dynamo in the “guard’s van.” The more 








20 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


common and successful plan is to place the engine and dynamo in 
the baggage car and obtain steam from the locomotive. 

The Pennsylvania company uses a Brotherhood three-cylinder 
engine directly coupled to an Eickemeyer dynamo. The other 
companies use Westinghouse engines directly coupled to Westing- 



Fi^. 17. 


house dynamos (Figs. 16 and 17). These engines are less expensive 
to keep in repair, but they give more vibration to the train. The 
only difficulty in connecting* the engine with the locomotive boiler 
is the flexible joint between the engine and tender, and thence to 
the baggage car. A flexible rubber hose has been generally used 
for the purpose, but on account of the short life of the rubber, the 
Moran metallic flexible joint is coming into more common use. 
The Westinghouse engines are self-governing and keep the speed 
closely constant. The dynamos are compound wound and maintain 
the voltage quite constant for all loads. On the Midland road in 
England, the engine and dynamos were placed on the locomotive 
tender. This system is best suited for solid trains which go 










TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


21 



through without any changes 
in make-up. It is necessary to 
provide some means for light¬ 
ing the cars while the locomo¬ 
tives are being changed at 
division points; this is pro¬ 
vided for in some cases by a 
double throw switch (Fig. 18) 
in the baggage car, which 
allows the train lights to be 
connected with the station 
lighting system. In other 
cases oil or gas lamps, or stor¬ 
age batteries are used as an 
auxiliary. Such lights are also 
required if the train is broken 
up and cars removed or added 
at junction points. -The vibra¬ 
tion from the engine is not 
perceptible when train is run¬ 
ning, but it becomes somewhat Fig-. 18. 

objectionable, especially on the vestibuled trains, when standing at 
stations. On some roads an attendant is required to look after the 
engine and dynamo, although this expense is reduced on other 
roads by training the baggage man to look after this also. On 
some trains the baggage man needs assistance in his regular work, 
and the electrician helps him. The cost of attendance, therefore, 
varies according to the train business. 



The system of lighting 
by electricity which has 
been applied to the largest 
number of cars is that 
used on the trolley cars, 
where the same source of 
power drives the train and 
supplies the light. Elec¬ 
tric power is coming 
rapidly into use on steam 
railroads, and it may be a 
question of only a few years 
when the steam locomotive 




















22 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


will be limited principally to roads where the trains are infrequent, 
say less than twenty trains per day. Popular fancy will doubtless 
expect train speeds then to rival that of electricity itself. 
(Fig-. 19.) 

From the beg-inning-, eng-ineers have looked upon the car axle as 
the most economical source of power for the electric lig-hts. The 
locomotive develops power much more economically than a small 
hig-h-speed engine; it causes no vibration when the train is stand¬ 
ing ; if made to regulate automatically, the cost of attendance is 
reduced to a minimum, the amount of power required is so small as 
not to tax the locomotive boiler or engines, and practically all the 
cost of power is that of the extra coal burned at the locomotive. 
With the power derived from the axle, each car may be separate, 
or may be connected with others, as desired; may be placed on a 
run of any length ; has no vibration to disturb the wakeful sleeper ; 
contains no elements of danger; is always ready in the evening or 
morning, or when going through tunnels; requires little care. 
The car axle as a source of power has, therefore, proved very at¬ 
tractive to engineers, and also proved to be beset with many diffi¬ 
culties. The three greatest difficulties are that the speed of the 
train varies so as to tax to the utmost whatever regulating appa¬ 
ratus may be devised ; the apparatus is almost necessarily under 
the car and exposed to the weather ; the universal use of bogie, 
or swivel trucks on American cars complicates the problem of main¬ 
taining proper mechanical connection between the axle and the 
dynamo when rounding curves and crossing frogs and switches. 
These difficulties, in connection with the storage battery problems, 
have given the designer and inspector a royal problem. The old 
saying that “faint heart ne’er won fair lady” is quite apropos in 
connection with axle lighting devices, and the suitors have one 
by one dropped out of the race until only six rivals are in the field, 
although it is darkly rumored that another (which may be all 
“ gas ”) is preparing to enter the list. 

The earliest available record indicates that the London, Brighton 
& South Coast Railway, in England, was the first to use electric 
light on trains. In 1881 a train was equipped with storage bat¬ 
teries, and it soon became evident that their successful operation in 
that early stage of their development required a more or less con¬ 
tinual charging during the trip. Mr. Wm. Stroudley, Superin¬ 
tendent of Locomotives and Carriages, and Mr. Houghton, Super 


TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


23 


intendent of Telegraphs, put their abilities together and devised a 
system which proved so successful that, with its later improve¬ 
ments, it has been in continuous and growing' use ever since. They 



METHOD OF DRIVING DYNAMO FROM CAR AXLE IN USE ON MIDLAND RY., ENGLAND 

Fig. 20. 


placed in the “ luggage van ” a dynamo which received power from 
the car axle (Fig. 20) by means of link leather belts and a counter¬ 
shaft. A centrifugal governor on the dynamo shaft made the neces¬ 
sary changes in the electrical circuits as the car stopped or reversed 
its direction. A storage battery absorbed part of the current while 
the train was moving and restored it to the lamps when the car 



















































































































24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 

stopped. Almost the earliest work in America in train lighting* 
from the axle by electricity was done by Mr. S. H. Barrett, of the 
Connecticut River Railroad, in 1887. Since then valiant work has 
been done by Moskowitz, Lewis, Young, Richards, Biddle, Crevel- 
ing, Gould, Kennedy and others in America, by Gill, Stone, Pres¬ 
ton and others in England, and by Dick, Vicarino, Auvert and 
others in Europe. 

To understand the problems which beset the designer of an 
axle-lighting system, we may consider briefly the fundamental 
principles of the dynamo and then discuss the requirements for 
securing a steady light from a dynamo whose speed changes. 

It is often believed by the 
uninitiated that a dynamo 
generates electricity by fric¬ 
tion, as by rubbing a cat’s 
back ; with this in mind, a 
facetious electrician has 
proposed a “ catelectric ” 
generator (Fig. 21), which 
is entirely self-contained 
and automatic, the cat fur¬ 
nishing the motive power 
and being rewarded for its 
exertions by a refreshing 
catnip-scented breeze. The actual dynamo-electric generator, 
however, is based upon quite different principles. 

A magnetic field of force surrounds every current (Fig. 22), 
being stronger when the current flows through a coil (Fig. 23), 
and still stronger if the coil surrounds or is surrounded by iron. 

The amount of magnetism, or the number of magnetic lines of 
force, is proportional to the number of turns of wire multiplied by 
the current through them (the ampere-turns); it is proportionaf to 
the area of the iron and to its magnetic quality, and is inversely 
proportional to the length of the iron and to the length of any air 
space in the circuit. In the design of a dynamo the first point is 
to provide a good path (Fig. 24) for the magnetic lines and to fur¬ 
nish a suitable magnetizing current. The second part of the 
dynamo is the armature, which consists of a cylindrical core of 
sheet iron surrounded by insulated copper wires (Fig. 25), which 
connect with a commutator and stationary brushes. The armature 
















TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


25 


revolves freely between the poles of an electromagnet, being en¬ 
tirely free from contact with them. The current is generated by 



Fig. 22. 

virtue of the inter-relation between electricity and magnetism. 
Not only does th*e passage of current cause a magnetic field, but if 
a wire moves in a magnetic field, or if the field moves with refer¬ 
ence to the wire, there is a tendency for current to flow in the wire, 



Fig. 23. 

this tendency being called an electromotive force. The E. M. F. 
is proportional to the rate of cutting or crossing the magnetic 
lines of force. In the actual dynamo the E. M. F. is induced in a 







26 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


number of wires fastened around the street iron armature core and 
suitably connected with each other and with the commutator, so 
that the E. M. F’s in the various wires will be properly added and 
all unite in the right direction to send current out through the 
to the outside circuit. 




The voltage, or electromotive force, delivered by the dynamo,, 
equals the product of the number of lines of force from the field 
through the armature multiplied by the number of wires on the 
armature and by the number of its revolutions per second. For 
the satisfactory operation of incandescent lamps it is essential that 
the voltage be kept constant within narrow limits. The problem 
in the regulation of a dynamo driven from the axle of a car or from 
any other source of power consists in keeping all of the three fac¬ 
tors constant, or in varying one or two to compensate for any un¬ 
controllable changes in the other. Some of the axle-lighting sys- 
tqms aim to keep the voltage constant by automatically varying the 
magnetic field or the effective number of wires on the armature, as 
the speed changes with the speed of the car. Others aim to keep 
the speed of the dynamo constant regardless of the train speed, of 
course within certain limits. Still others aim to keep the voltage 
at the lamps constant by inserting a resistance, or a counter E. M. 
F. between the dynamo and the lamps. 

Having considered briefly the principles involved in the regula¬ 
tion, attention may be given to the various parts of the axle-light¬ 
ing systems, noting how different engineers have attacked the 
difficult problem. 

The mechanical connection between the car axle and the dynamo 
is a much simpler problem in Europe, with rigid car basis, than in 
America, with four or six-wheel swiveled trucks. In Europe, it is 
usual to mount the dynamo on the car body, for the car axle is 
always practically at right angles to it. The power is generally 










TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


27 


transmitted by means of flat belts of link or solid leather or of 
camel’s hair. On one car of the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean 
road the pulley on the end of the armature shaft was pressed 
against the side of one of the car wheels ; the end motion of the 
axle was apparently too much for it, for later devices by their en¬ 
gineer Auvert use a flat belt. In the Vicarino axle lighting- sys¬ 
tem, now being exploited by the Poliak Battery Company of 
Frankfurt, Germany, the power is transmitted by a friction drive, 
a flat-faced pulley on the armature being pressed against a larger 
flat-faced pulley on the car axle. This is similar to the drive used 
for some time in the Moscowitz system (Fig. 26) and abandoned 



Fig-. 26. 


for a belt drive. The Dick system uses a dynamo made like a reg¬ 
ular street car motor, hung upon the car axle and geared to it by a 
4:1 reduction gearing. A somewhat similar arrangement was 
used for a while by the American Railway Electric Light Company 
in 1897, who fitted a split sleeve over the car axle (Fig. 27) to 
carry the gear and dynamo journals. The first equipment put out 
by Moscowitz, in 1893, on the Central Railway, of New Jersey, 
had a sprocket wheel on the car axle, from which a chain drove a 





28 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


countershaft with a cone pulley driving* the dynamo, which was in 
one corner of the baggage car. The sprocket was abandoned and 
the dynamo was then mounted on the car truck with a friction 
drive, which in turn was replaced by a belt drive with countershaft 
hung- with tension spring’s. With any kind of a belt drive it is 
necessary to use wide-flanged pulleys on account of the up-and- 
down and endwise motion of the car axle and on account of the 



Fig. 27. 


swinging of the truck in rounding curves. In the Stone system, 
largely used in England and Europe, and in its American repre¬ 
sentative, the Gould system, the dynamo is hung (Fig. 28) on the 
car body with links and tension springs. The system put out by 
the Consolidated Railway Electric Light and Equipment Company, 
which has consolidated the Moscowitz interests, National Electric 
Axle Light Company, the Electric Axle Light and Power Com¬ 
pany, the Columbia Car Lighting Company and the United Elec¬ 
tric Company, uses a peculiar belt with V-shaped links (Figs. 29 
and 30) working in.grooved pulleys, the dynamo being'mounted on 
the car truck with a spring tension device. 







TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


29 


I To protect the axle-lighting- outfits from the weather, the 
dynamo is generally made iron clad and weatherproof, so that ex¬ 
ternally it looks simply like a tight box. The difficult part to pro¬ 
tect is the belt, or gearing ; in the case of a dynamo hung on the 



axle, the gears or friction drive may be enclosed in a dust and oil 
tight metallic casing, as is common on street railways. Where a 
belt is used, some sort of flexible casing (Fig. 31) is desirable. 
The batteries are placed in boxes hung under the car body, having 
removable fronts, and having suitable ventilating openings for the 














































30 


PROCEEDINGS OF the ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 



Fig-. 30. 


escape of the gases which arise during the charging of the bat¬ 
teries. 

The regulation of the voltage with the varying speeds is one of 
the most difficult problems to handle. One method of keeping the 
voltage at the lamps constant while the speed of the train varies, 
is to secure a variable ratio of reduction between the car axle and 
dynamo. Below a certain limit of speed of train it is impossible 
with any system to maintain proper operation of the dynamo, and 
some automatic device must be provided to cut the dynamo from 
the battery and lamp circuit below the critical speed. Above this 
speed, the dynamo may be kept at constant speed by means of fric¬ 
tion cone pulleys, as was done by Barrett and by Moskowitz. The 
plan of Stone, in England, and of Gould, in America, is to main¬ 
tain the speed constant by allowing the belt to slip ; if the speed of 
the dynamo increases, the voltage also increases, and this makes 
the current through the battery or lamps increase correspondingly ; 
but the pull on the belt is closely proportional to the current from 







TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


31 


the dynamo armature, hence the higher speed of the dynamo in¬ 
volves a greater pull on the belt; now, it is not difficult to adjust 
the tension of the belt so that it will slip more or less and pull the 
armature just hard enough to deliver the desired current and no 
more. The success of this method of regulation is indicated by a 
report of Hoest (Bui. Assn. Montefiore 1899, pages 264 to 270 ; 
L?Eclairage Electrique , 22 : 39), showing that between train speeds 
of 38 and 115 kilometers (23.6 to 71.5 miles) per hour, the current 
remained sensibly constant at 20 amperes. 



A more common method of securing constant output from the 
dynamo is to let the speed vary with that of the car, and to change 
the strength of the magnetic field, or the effective number of arma¬ 
ture wires to compensate any changes in speed. It is practicable 
to change the effective number of armature wires only within nar¬ 
row limits, and, so far as the writer knows, this has been adopted 
only on the Brush dynamos used in the early work of Stroudley and 
Houghton in England. The regulation by changing the strength 
of the magnetic field has been used more generally. The magnetic 
fields of dynamos for incandescent lamps are generally excited by a 
small current through many turns of fine wire which is connected 
to the brushes of the dynamo, or to the battery, and which takes a 
small current independent of that going to the battery or lamps. 










































32 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. EOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 



This is known as a shunt-wound dynamo. The current through 
the shunt field coil may be regulated at will by inserting a variable 
resistance in series with it. The method adopted by the Consoli¬ 
dated Railway Electric Lighting and Equipment Company is to 
have a small motor (Fig. 32) connected with the adjustable arm of 
the resistance box and governed by a magnet in the main circuit; 
this motor automatically adjusts the resistance in series with the 
shunt field coil, so as to strengthen or weaken the magnetic field 
to compensate for any changes in speed above the critical speed of 
about 15 miles per hour. Personal observation of the working of 
this device on the Santa Fe road last December showed that, after 
the dynamo was connected with the lights, a sensitive Weston volt¬ 
meter indicated no perceptible variation of voltage between fifteen 
miles and the highest speed attained, probably forty miles per 
hour. In a few cars there was a slight but gradual change at the 
critical speed when the lights were shifted from the dynamo to the 
battery or vice versa. In no case was the fluctuation objectionable. 


Fig-. 32. 













TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


33 


and it was probably not noticed by the passengers. One of the earliest 
forms of this regulator was used experimentally on a Boston & 
Albany car about 1897. In the Dick system the resistance is regu¬ 
lated by an electro-magnet. Another method of regulation is that 
formerly used by Moskowitz and now used by Vicarino in Europe, 


ELECTRO 

MAbHETfC 

SWITCH. 



LAMPS. 


DYNAMO 





BATTfflY. 


LAMP RESISTANCE. 


VICARINO SYSTEM. 

Fig. 33. 




























































34 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


namely (Fig-. 33) a differential winding- on the dynamo field mag- 
net. This carries two sets of coils, one a shunt field such as used 
by the systems already noted, and in addition to this, a second coil 
of large wire through which the main current passes. As the car 
and dynamo run faster, the voltage tends to rise correspondingly, 
and, consequently, the current delivered to the lamps and batteries 
increases, but the current passing through the series coil weakens 
the magnetic field and so tends to offset the higher speed. There 
are numerous technical difficulties in the design of such a dynamo, 
but by careful adjustment the voltage at the lamps may be kept 
constantly within a narrow range. A test on the Vicarino system 
(.Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift , 21:50, Jan. 11, 1900) showed a varia¬ 
tion from 31.0 to 31.8 volts as the train speed rose from 50 to 100 
kilometers (31 to 62 miles) per hour, certainly a close regulation. 

A source of difficulty in any system using a storage battery is 
that the voltage gradually drops off as the battery discharges. In 
large central stations this is compensated for by an end cell 
switch, which cuts in more cells as the voltage falls off. This 
is too much complication for train service. It is found, how T - 
ever, that if the number of lamps burning is diminished as 
the battery discharges, the voltage remains practically constant 
and the regulation is close enough. It naturally takes more voltage 
to charge a battery than it delivers, and when the battery is 
charged and discharged intermittently, being connected with the 
lamps at the same time, it is necessary to protect the lamps by a 
resistance which cuts down their voltage to the proper amount. 
This method is adopted in all axle-lighting systems. The adjust¬ 
ment of the series resistance involves some technical difficulties 
which need not be dwelt upon, but which yield to care in adjusting 
the equipment to the regular run of the car. One of the early types 
of Moskowitz axle system had two batteries, one of which was 
charging while the other supplied the lamps ; an adjustable resist¬ 
ance (Fig. 34) allowed the lamps to be dimmed as desired. The 
later Moskowitz apparatus used only one battery. The Gould sys¬ 
tem uses two batteries, both of which may be charged when no 
lamps are burning ; when lamps are in use while the train is run¬ 
ning,'one is connected directly with the lamps while the other is 
charging (Fig. 35), part of the lamp current being taken from the 
dynamo through a suitable resistance. Generally speaking, the 
systems which use two batteries charge one while the train is 


TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


35 . 




//a/^ Lights 



. £$>. 4- 

r*T 

i All Lights 




RuifTa.Lt 


Lamps 


Satttvvj CWa.rjmj 


HO 


RtftUt*nC« 


111!. 


Lamps 

Ba.H«r^ Ct.(x>-am3 

aavvi*-^ TivicK^aitvs 

Lvjnttimo 


@@UL® r GAjj fUtelrOWJ© i^YinTilM. 

' ARRANGEMENT OF CONNECTIONS 

FOTT 

DOUBLE BATTERIES. 


r 

H 


Fig - . 36 


























































































■ 36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


37 


running* in one direction, and charge the other when the direction of 
the car is reversed, the lamps being supplied principally from the 
battery which is not being charged at that time. 

The devices for maintaining the proper polarity of the dynamo 
and for cutting it in or out as the critical speed is passed, are partly 
mechanical and partly electrical (Fig. 36), the details of which 
would extend this paper, already too long, far beyond the limits of 
your patience. Some of the manufacturers prefer to supply the 
whole train from one outfit in the baggage car, others prefer to 
have each car equipped with its own device in order that each 
car may be a unit in itself and perfectly independent. With the 
latter arrangement it is an eas}^ matter to connect two adjacent 
cars together, in case the source of current in one should get out of 
order. Whatever may be said of some of the older systems which 
appeared from time to time, there are at present at least four 
systems in Europe and two in America which seem to have 
reached the practical and reliable stage, and it is now possible 
to obtain axle lighting equipments even on rental basis at no 
greater cost than gas, with strong guarantees of perfect service 
backed by ample capital. It therefore goes without saying that 
axle-lighted cars will come into general use in a short time. 

Comparisons are generally odious, and it is rather difficult for a 
layman to secure accurate data which are at all comparable. In 
equipping a train with electric lights it is generally given much 
more actual light (Figs. 37 to 40) than with the old system. 
Again, the expense will vary with the number of cars equipped, 
the number of lights per car, the number of car miles, the cost 
of fuel and labor in different places, and above all the intel¬ 
ligence and faithfulness of the men in charge of the equipment. 
In 1891 the Engineering News collected data from many sources 
for obtaining the relative cost of oil, gas and electricity. At 
that early stage the comparison was not favorable to electric sys¬ 
tems. Since that time the greatest advances have been made in 
all lines of electrical industry, and the investigator of to-day may 
expect to find the situation reversed. 

In determining the actual cost of anv kind of light all of the 
elements should be considered, including labor, supplies and re¬ 
newals, depreciation, interest on investment and any other ex¬ 
penses which legitimately belong to the cost of car lighting. For 
instance, it was stated several years ago that the Pullman Com- 


38 proceedings of tiie st. louis railway club. 



Fig-. 38 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































TRAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


39 


pany spent $200,000 annually for renewing- carpets, etc., ruined by 
oil leaking- from the lamps, and such item, if correct, should prop¬ 
erly be charg-ed as part of the cost of lig-hting by oil. In the same 
category should be included damage to clothes and other property 
of passengers, for if a passenger does not come against the com¬ 
pany for damages he is very liable to transfer his business to some 
other road after his best coat or her best dress has been ruined by 
a leaky lamp. In the same way all subsidiary costs should be 
reckoned to obtain the true cost of lighting by any system. Unless 
a detailed account is given, it is difficult to compare relative fig¬ 
ures from different sources, C)uite an array of data on cost of 
lighting was given in a paper before the Southern and Southwest¬ 
ern Railway Club in November, 1899. 

The following notes regarding costs are given for whatever 
the} T may be worth: 

The report of Pohl (. Archivs fur Post and Tcleg ., 1898 ; Kick - 
trotechnischc Zeitschrift, Feb. 24, 1898; vol. 19, p. 121), tabulated 
the cost of lighting 627 mail cars, whose batteries were charged at 
nine stations, to be 3.5 pfennig ($0.00875) per hour per twelve- 
candle lamp. He concludes: “Electric lighting costs scarcely 
more and probably less than gas.” 

A report by Pohl in 1896 (A’ Electricien, Aug. 1, 1896), was 
that gas cost $0,010 per twelve-candle-power lamp per hour, while 
electricity cost $0,008 for equal light, a saving of 21 per cent; this 
on the basis of electricity costing $0.04 per kilowatt hour. 

A report on battery-lighted trains between Paris and Lisle 
gives the cost as $0.0048 per ten-candle-power lamp hour ( Rail¬ 
road Gazette , 27:611, Sept 13,1895). 

A report from a road 280 miles long-, running out from Ade¬ 
laide, Australia, with axle-lighting equipments, states that the 
cost is $18.43 per week, per five-car train, against a previous 
cost of $20 per week with oil lamps. {Railroad Review, 1895 ; 
Western Electrician, Nov. 23, 1895.) 

A report by Buettner ( Elek . Anzeiger, Aug. 28, 1897 ; Engin¬ 
eering Magazine, Aug., 1897 ; Elec. World, 30:196), states that gas 
is cheaper for short runs, while electricity is cheaper for long runs. 

A report by New ( London Electrical Engineer, June 28, 1895), 
gives a cost of $0.00372 per seventeen-candle-power hour on a bat¬ 
tery-lighted train in North Staffordshire, England. 


40 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB 



Fi<^« 39, 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































TWAIN LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY. 


41 


A report from the Jura-Siinplon Railway {L? Eclair age Elec- 
tnque , 12:552-562, 1897), is that the total cost of electric light by 
storage-battery system is .0031 franc ($0.0006) per ten-candle- 
power hour, which must include a misplaced decimal. 

Kohlfurst ( Schweiz . Bauzeit ., March 31, 1900), states that the 
cost of a ten-car train with ten candle-power per car, for six hours,, 
is for each ten candle-power $0.0176 from storage battery, $0.0056 
from oil lamp and $0.0026 from axle-driven dynamo. 

A report in Railroad Gazette (28:519, 1896), gives cost of 
Pintsch gas as $1,085 per car day, SO.944 for storage battery and 
$0.55 for oil, on the basis of equal amounts of light. 

A report on the Stone axle-lighting system, used in English 
trains ( Railroad Gazette , Sep. 16, 1898), gives the cost as $0.00294 
per sixteen candle-power hour, including all expenses, which was 
only one-third the cost to them of Pintsch gas. 

Another report from the London, Brighton & South Coast Rail¬ 
way in England ( London Electrician , 33:69, May 18, 1894), gives 
as the lirst cost for equipping a train of ten coaches (English) in¬ 
cluding its share of the charging plant: For gas, $3,500 ; for oil, 
$600 ; for axle-lighting system, $2,000. The yearly cost of main¬ 
tenance is given as: Gas, $600; oil, $350 to $650 ; axle-driven elec¬ 
tric, $250. At the same time they report 15 per cent more work 
obtained from the electric-lighted trains. 

The above figures are simply quoted from published accounts. 
The writer has not had opportunity to verify or analyze them. 
The indication is that for equally good illumination the electric 
light can compete with oil or gas in point of economy, while its 
general advantages leave it far ahead. 




42 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB 


Fijjf. 40. 



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































QUESTION BOX DEPARTMENT. 


43 


The President: Gentlemen, what is jour pleasure regarding 
Prof. Shepardson’s paper? 

Mr. J. A. Gohen (M. C. P. Big Four Ry.): I move that the 
paper be accepted and made part of the records of the Club. 
(Seconded.) 

The President: Gentlemen, it is moved and seconded that 
Prof. Shepardson’s paper be accepted and made part of our pub¬ 
lished records. Those in favor of that motion will signify by say¬ 
ing aye. The motion is carried unanimously. 

Prof. Shepardson, I cannot express my thanks to you for the 
entertainment that you have given the Club this afternoon. I am 
sure that it will be read with quite as much interest as it has been 
listened to this evening by everybody who are interested in the elec¬ 
tric lighting proposition. We would like to hear from Mr. Ken- 
nedj 7 , if he will be kind enough to favor us with a few remarks on 
this subject. 

Mr. J. Kennedy (Chf. Eng. Consolidated Ry. El. Lt. & Eq. 
Co.): Mr. President, I thank you for the courtesy extended to me. 
I came here to listen and not to speak. I have been very much edi¬ 
fied and instructed by the paper that Prof. Shepardson has read 
here this afternoon, and I have no doubt that his paper will become 
classic in the annals of electric train lighting. 

The President : Gentlemen, we have with us this afternoon 
Mr. Johnson, of the Pintsch gas system. Perhaps you can give us 
some points on the matter, Mr. Johnson. 

Mr. B. V. H. Johnson (Gen. Agt. Safety Car Heating & E. 
Co.): I have been very much interested in Prof. Shepardson’s 
paper, but I am not prepared to say anything at present, Mr. 
Chairman. 

Mr. President: We have with us this afternoon Mr. Miller, of 
the Burlington system, who has a paper prepared as an answer to 
one of the questions in the Question Box. Mr. Miller is present, I 
believe. 

A Member : Mr. Miller left a few minutes ago ; he had to go 
down town. 

The President: The paper is here, and I will ask the Secretary 
to read it. 

The Secretary then read Mr. Miller’s paper as follows : 


44 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. EOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


Question No, 32, “Views on electric block signaling. The 
correct signal, whether it be a normal clear or a normal danger 
signal? ” 


Answer, Automatic electric block signaling having been in 
successful operation on various lines for more than ten years, and 
having been accepted by the American Railway Association as a 
safe and efficient device, it is fair to presume that it has come to 
stay. 

Electrically controlled signals were first installed so that they 
were actuated by a train’s contact with a track instrument located 
at or near each signal. 

This method has been succeeded by a better one which includes 
a track circuit so arranged that an indication is given at each 
switch when there is a train in that section ; also the signal will 
indicate when there is a swicli open at a cross-over or siding. 

Block signals not only add to the safety of trains but also 
increase to the utmost the capacity to operate trains and promote 
discipline. Block sections divide the railway up into smaller spaces 
than is customary with ordinary stations, therefore trains may 
with safety follow each other more closely and the signals also 
inspire enginemen with confidence which is not obtainable other¬ 
wise. 

The automatic electric system has some advantages over the 
telegraph or manual controlled block systems because while the 
first cost is heavier, the permanent expense of maintenance is con¬ 
siderably less ;—therefore signals are located closer together, and 
being so located, enable trains to run thicker. 

As to the correct indication, I will not undertake to answer that 
question affirmatively. Perhaps the indication required to meet 
present conditions might prove undesirable later on, and this 
question is one that will very likely be determined by experience. 

Of course the density of traffic and the character of service 
required are factors that will introduce themselves always ; for 
instance, it is said that in Massachusetts there is a disposition to 
abolish the derail at this time, while out here, we are not satisfied 
that the derail is entitled to a place in our main tracks. We are 
not ready to take so radical a step; yet it seems to be a move in the 
right direction to close up as rapidly as possible all openings cal¬ 
culated to stop or hinder trains running at high speed. 


QUESTION BOX DEPARTMENT. 


45 


Here are two pictures one showing - a disk signal clear, and the 
other showing - the same signal indicating stop. 



The attitude of the two largest signal companies on this subject 
is confusing, because one claims the normal stop indication is best, 
while the other is equally positive that the normal clearindication 
is the proper one. 

Each extols the virture of its pet, but says very little of its 
vices. 

The Standard Code of the American Railway Association 
expresses no preference in that respect, but one of the requisites of 
installation is that the apparatus shall be so constructed that the 
failure of any part will cause the signals to indicate stop. 










46 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. EOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


A signal expert argues that as interlocking signals are invari¬ 
ably operated normally stop, for the sake of uniformity all other 
signals should have the same indication. 

The logic of that argument is not apparent because interlocking 
signals usually control adverse or diverging routes ; therefore as 
the line cannot be cleared in all directions at the same time, obvi¬ 
ously the signals must be operated normally stop. 

Block signals are ordinarily used for the purpose of providing 
a safe interval between trains, therefore I am unable to see in 
what respect the two bear any relation to each other. 

On the railway with which I am connected, we have some double 
track protected with automatic electric disk signals operated nor¬ 
mally clear. Also have a number of interlocking plants, and each 
station protected with semaphore signals of standard type, and 
have experienced no confusion. 

My own opinion is that both the normal stop and normal clear 
indications are good we could be happy with either —and the 
only drawback I know of is that our railroads generally don’t have 
enough block signals. A more extended use would reduce the 
hazard and increase the revenue. 

Of course there is an impression that is hard to dispel that it is 
not a correct principle to have a signal indicate stop when the track 
is clear, and probably we shall adhere more closely to it in the 
future as the speed of trains increases. 

As to block signaling as a general proposition ; there is one 
thing about it to which I would like to direct attention, and that 
is the possibilities under a system of that kind. 

Whenever the trains on a railroad get so thick that the move¬ 
ment of traffic is limited to the number of orders a dispatcher can 
send and trains are constant^ delayed awaiting orders, then it 
becomes necessary to adopt a better method, and block signaling is 
the resort, as a rule. 

On the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy railroad, between Chicago 
and Burlington, trains are being operated in a very novel way 
as the classification of freight trains has been entirely abolished, 
and they, whether scheduled or extra, have equal rights. Trains 
are not given orders, and are not run in sections ; therefore no 
classification signals whatever are displayed. 

The right of any train to proceed is indicated by the position of 
the train order or block signal. A clear signal gives to any train 


QUESTION BOX DEPARTMENT. 


47 


for which it is displayed the right to proceed in advance of first- 
class trains. In short, the whole complicated rules and regulations 
usually employed in the operation of trains is reduced to one thing, 
and that is, “go, when you get the signal.” 

Another thing about that division is that they use two, three 
or. four tracks reversely, and run trains against the current under 
special orders whenever it seems expedient. 

To that end, they are installing interlocking plants at stations 
calculated to divert trains from one track to the other without de¬ 
lay. 

Here is a diagram, showing a. track lay-out which enables a 
move in almost any direction. A train may be diverted from one 
track to another, or be put upon a siding by means of signal indi¬ 
cations. 



I mention this simply to show how fast we are advancing in 
signaling ; that the tendency is in that direction, and that the prob¬ 
abilities are that it will supersede most of the other methods 
eventually. 

In conclusion, I shall direct the attention of the Club to a new 
idea in automatic electric signaling. 

It consists of two incandescent lamps of different colors located 
in the engine cab directly in front of the enginemen. One lamp 
may be white, green or yellow, for the clear indication, and is used 
to show two conditions: first, that the track for the first and sec¬ 
ond block ahead is clear ; second, that the system is in order. 

The other light can be either red or green, as may be desired, 
and is used for the purpose of showing the enginemen that the 
second block ahead is occupied by a train or car, or that a switch 
is open in the second block, or that a car is projecting over the 
fouling point of a siding, or that the system is out of order. 

The track is arranged in block sections similar to the construc¬ 
tion in other electric signaling, the mechanism on the locomotive 
consisting of a polarized instrument which controls the lamps, and 
a battery of seven or eight Edison-Lalande cells. The polarized 
instrument is moved to position by reversal of signal battery at 












48 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


side of track. Should the signal battery fail to reverse, the line 
would fail to open and show stop signal at block behind. 

The track is governed by the ordinary track circuit system, with 
the addition of an insulated one-rail section at block points where 
a signal battery is placed, consisting of two cells of gravit } 7 bat¬ 
tery ; one pole of this battery is to the rear rail and the other is- to 
the insulated section rail ; the polarity of the batter} T is governed 
by a pole changer adjacent. 

This system does away with all outside signals and displays 
upon each engine the indication that is usually given by signals on 
masts located along the track. • 

The importance of an indication of that kind will appeal at 
once to everyone. 

The accompanying diagram shows the signal as applied to a 
locomotive. 



I have had no experience with this device, but it has been 
thoroughly tested for the past six months on the Chicago & Eastern 
Illinois, and is said to be practicable. 

Henry Miller, 

Asst. Supt. Burlington Route, 
Hannibal, Mo. 





















































APPLICATIONS FOP MEMBERSHIP. 


49 


The President : You have heard the paper prepared by Supt. 
Miller of the Burlington. What is your pleasure? 

Mr. B. W. Frauenthal (Mgr. Bureau of Information): I move 
you, sir, that the paper be received and printed in our proceedings 
and that the thanks of the Club be tendered to Mr. Miller. 

Mr. Frauenthal’s motion being seconded, was carried. 

The President: We have another paper prepared for this after¬ 
noon, but as it is growing late, I will kindly ask the gentleman if 
he will reserve it for the next meeting of the Club. We don’t 
usually like to disappoint those gentlemen who are kind enough to 
devote their time in preparing papers to be read before this Club, 
but it is growing late, and I think the paper is entitled to per¬ 
haps a little larger congregation than we have here now. Some 
of our members have skipped off to the other end of the hall and 
some of them had to take their trains, so we haven’t as large an 
audience as I would like to have for that particular paper, and if 
you will kindly excuse us until the next meeting, Mr. Alford, we 
would like to have it then. 

Mr. Alford v Mgr. Pikrite Paint Co.): I thank you, Mr. Chair¬ 
man, for your consideration and I will accept the courtesy. 

The President: We have a number of applications for member¬ 
ship, which I will ask the Secretary to read. 

The Secretary then read the list of applicants for membership* 
as follows: 

APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP. 

FOR ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. 

L. F. Bacon, Pass. Agt. A. T. & S. F. Ry., Room 7, Union 
Depot, Kansas City, Mo. Recommended by Jas. Stannard and J. 
A. Heether. 

A. C. Barnett, Jr., Ass’t Tkt. Agt. Union Station, St. Louis y 
Mo. Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal and E. A. Chenery. 

Geo. F. Braddock, Div. Insp. Engs. & F., Wabash R. R., Mo- 
berly, Mo. Recommended by Jas. Stannard and J. A. Heether. 

John J. Cotter, T. M., Wabash R. R., Decatur, Ill. Recom- 
commended by A. Robertson and E. A. Chenery. 

U. B. Darnall, Agent Wabash R. R., Kansas City, Mo. Recom¬ 
mended by Jas. Stannard and J. A. Heether. 


50 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


Mark Ewing*, Atty. T. R. R. A., Union Station, St. Louis, Mo. 
Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal and Julius S. Walsh, Jr. 

Wm. Hall, Condr. St. L. I. M. & S. Ry., Maplewood, St. Louis 
Co., Mo. Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal and E. A. Chenery. 

P. J. Hickey, M. M. Big- Four Ry., Mattoon, Ill. Recommended 
by John Winenow and J. A. Gohen. 

L. W. Karnes, Asst. Chf. Disp. Wabash R. R., Decatur, Ill. 
Recommended by A. Robertson and E. A. Chenery. 

J. H. Klages, Car Inspr., 7427 S. 6th St., St. Louis, Mo. Rec¬ 
ommended by Edw. Hogan and A. G. Steinbrenner. 

Janies Laughlin, T. M. Wabash R. R., Brunswick, Mo. Rec¬ 
ommended by James Stannard and J. A. Heether. 

P. G. Leonard, D. I. F. & L., Wabash R. R., Decatur, Ill. 
Recommended by A. Robertson and E. A. Chenery. 

Zack Mulhall, G. L. S. A., Frisco Ry., Nat’l Stock Yards, Ill. 
Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal and E. A. Chenery. 

J. E. Rathbone, Gen. Eng. Dispr., Wabash R. R., Decatur, Ill. 
Recommended by A. Robertson and E. A. Chenery. 

Wm. J. Reilly, Asst. Tkt. Agt., Union Station, St. Louis, Mo. 
Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal and E. A. Chenery. 

Jas. E. Stumpf, T. M., Wabash R. R., Decatur, Ill. Recom¬ 
mended by A. Robertson and E. A. Chenery. 

Jos. Traunmiller, Director St. L. T. & E. R. R., 5 S. 17th St., 
St. Louis, Mo. Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal and E. A. 
Chenery. 

O. C. Timewell, Chf. Clerk Gen. Supt., Wabash R. R., St. Louis, 
Mo. Recommended by J. A. Heether and Jas. Stannard. 

H. E. Watts, Tkt. Agent Wabash R. R., Moberly, Mo. Recom- 
medded by Jas. Stannard and J. A. Heether. 

W. C. Wilson, M. M., T. R. R. A., Union Station, St. Louis, 
Mo. Recommended by M. Wuerpel, Jr. and E. A. Chenery. 

Thos. Zetsche, Foreman T. R. R. A., Union Station, St. Louis, 
Mo. Recommended by M. Wuerpel, Jr. and E. A. Chenery. 

FOR ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP. 

H. Carroll Alford, Chemist & Mngr. Pikrite Paint Co., Union 
Trust Bldg., St. Louis, Mo. Recommended by Jno. J. Baulch and 
E. A. Chenery. 

Jno. T. Dickinson, Gen. Agt. Cons. Ry. El. Lt. & Eq. Co., 100 
Broadway, New York. Recommended by E. A. Chenery and Jno. 
J. Baulch. 


APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP. 


51 


Patrick Kennedy, Chf. Engr. Cons. Ry. El. Lt. & Eq. Co., 100 
Broadway, New York. Recommended by E. A. Chenery and Jno. 
J. Baulch. 

Ed. E. Lang-worthy, Rep. Adams & Westlake Co., 110 Ontario 
St., Chicag-o, Ills. Recommended by A. L. Whipple and E. A. 
Chenery. 

J. V. McAdams, 3d Asst, to V.-P., S. H. & H. I. Co., 5580 
Cabanne Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 

S. H. Riddell, S. W. Rep. Standard Steel Works, 712 Security 
Bldg-., St. Louis, Mo. Recommended by E. W. Hodg-kins and E. 
A. Chenery. 

J. H. Taylor, Railway Supplies, 510 Roe Bldg-., St. Louis, Mo. 
Recommended by E. S. Marshall and E. A. Chenery. 

Gordon Willis, V. P. Thorn & Hun kins L. & C. Co., 18th & 
Austin Sts, St. Louis, Mo. Recommended by B. W. Frauenthal 
and F. A. Johann. 

J. H. Woolsey, Pikrite Paint Co., 110. Union Trust Bldg-., St. 
Louis, Mo. Recommended by Jno.. J. Bmilch and E. A. Chenery. 

The President: Gentlemen, unless liere is some objection, 
these names will take the usual course and be presented to the 
Executive Committee at its next meeting, after which they will 
come before you for action at the next egular meeting- of this 
Club. 

I might add that at the next meeting of the Club you will be 
called upon to select your officers for the ensuing year, being that 
of President, three Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer and two 
members of the Executive Committee. I am pretty certain that 
the Nesbit law will not conflict with our election. I think it would 
be well for the members of the Club to look over the membership 
list and select their officers with due regard to their ability to take 
care of the Club and look after its interests. 

At the meeting of the Executive Committee this afternoon it 
was moved by. Mr. E. S. Marshall, and seconded by Mr. E. L. 
Adreon, that a committee of five be appointed as a committee on 
recommendations for changes in the M. C. B. rules to the arbitra¬ 
tion committee. The committee will consist of Messrs. E. S. Mar¬ 
shall, Chas. Waughop, E. L. Adreon, Sr.. S. M. Dolan and A. G. 
Steinbrenner. 

I have a communication from the Blees Military Academy, gen¬ 
tlemen, making the report on the young man who is there as the 


52 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. EOUIS RAILWAY CLUB. 


representative of the St. Louis Railway Club: “The work of our 
first half year was completed on Saturday, January 26th. We 
now send you record of Charles Koons. His final standing’s were : 
Chemistry, excellent; English, fair; type-writing, excellent; 
geometry, good ; French, very good ; conduct, very good. He has 
passed creditably in all the work of the term.” This is a source of 
congratulation to every member of the Club, I am sure. 

Is there any other business to come before the Club ? 

Mr. E. S. Marshall (Amn. Steel Foundry): Mr. President, as 
you are all aware, the bill for the World’s Fair has passed and is 
now a matter of certainty. We have in our ranks as a member of 
the St. Louis Railway Club an applicant for the position of Com¬ 
missioner, and I would ask (and I don’t think it would be out of 
the way) that this Club endorse him. The principal object of the 
Club, as I understand it T is, first, to enlighten us on the various 
duties of our positions, and the next and most important is to help 
one another. I would ask the endorsement of this Club of the 
Hon. Joseph Flory as Commissioner at the World’s Fair. 

Mr. B. W. Frauenthal: I second the motion. 

The President: Gentlemen, it is moved and seconded that it is 
the sense of this Club that its endorsement be presented for the 
nomination of Hon. Joseph Flor}^ as one of the Commissioners of 
the World’s Fair, to be held here in 1903. 

There are two things that I scarcely ever discuss at home or 
with my friends, and they are politics and religion. As neither 
one of those matters come into this question, I would like to see 
the Club offer and send a good, strong endorsement for this posi¬ 
tion for Joe Flory. He has been an active member of the 
Club ever since its inception. He has been with us when he could, 
and he has been an honor and a credit to the Club in every position 
he has occupied, and I am sure he would be in this position. Are 
you ready for the question? (Cries, “Question!”) All those in 
favor of the motion will signify it by saying “aye.” It is 
carried unanimously. The endorsement of the Club will be sent 
at once. 

Before closing, I have a memorandum here, an invitation is ex¬ 
tended to the members of the St. Louis Railway Club to call and 
examine an exhibit of car window models and vestibule platform 
trap doors, shown by the O. N. Edwards Company, of Syracuse, 
New York, in room 66, at the east end of this hall, on this floor. 


adjournment. 


53 


After the motion to adjourn is carried, I presume the gentleman 
will be happy to have all of you call upon him. Are there any 
further motions ? 

Mr. Gohen : Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask if Mr. M. M. 
Martin was a member of the St. Louis Railway Club? 

The President: He was not, but in that connection it is only 
proper to express to our friends the sympathy that we have in that 
case, and also in the case of a very good member of this Club who 
died suddenly during the last two weeks I refer to Mr. George D. 
Minch. The usual page will be set apart to Mr. Minch’s memory 
in the official proceedings of the Club. Is there any further busi- 
ness ? 

A member: I move we adjourn. (Seconded.) 

The President: It is moved and seconded that we adjourn. 
Please don’t forget that at the next meeting of the Club there will 
be an election of officers. Those in favor of the motion to adjourn 
will please say “aj^e.” 

The meeting then adjourned until Friday, April 12th, at 3 
o’clock, p. m. 


QUESTION BOX DEPARTMENT. 


Question No. 48 . “Is it not a fact that in the majority of cases 
of wheel removals, due to sharp flanges, that only one wheel has 
the flange so worn ; that the flange on the other wheel is practi¬ 
cally perfect, but is tread-worn to a greater degree than is the case 
in the flange-worn wheel? What are the various reasons therefor?” 

Answer. Opinions in answer to this question are numerous, but 
I would say, after having for a number of years been in close prox¬ 
imity in the removal of thousands of wheels, particularly from 
passenger equipment, for the above cause, and having examined 
critically the trucks and body in order to try and determine why 
such should exist, I find that in most every instance, on the side of 
the truck that the wheel is worn, the inner raised lip of the bottom 
and top center plates nearest to the wheel that is worn at the 
flange, it was found to be bright, showing considerable friction, 
while on the opposite side and for two-thirds around the center 
plate there was an accumulation of dirt and rust, free from fric¬ 
tion ; also showing that part of the truck opposite to the part de¬ 
scribed, its bearing was lower than that where the wheel was 
worn ; consequent^ the equalization of spring bearings in the 
trucks where there are different sections, could not have been per¬ 
fect, thereby crowding the wheel that was found to be worn to the 
rail. Or, on the other hand, the body of car proper, its weight for 
centrally bearing must have been unequal. 

It is my opinion that the wear of the flanges may be attribut¬ 
able to a great extent owing to the unequalization of bearing ten¬ 
sion at center, necessitating the proper ballasting of a car body for 
central equalization. In observing numerous cases it has been 
principally with steel-tired wheels, true to caliper on lathe; this 
would obviate any supposition that one wheel might be larger in 
circumference to the one on corresponding axle ; furthermore, 
journals of same dimensions. No doubt the various opinions of 
the parties having occasion to observe removals of such wheels 
daily in the perusal of this will leave a vast area showing a differ¬ 
ence of opinion. 

Jno. J. O’Bkikn, 

Gen’l Foreman T. R. R. Assn. 


The Lighting of 

Railway Cars 

Prof. GEO. 0. SHEPARDSON 

University of Miirae«ot« 


The Forum, May, 1901 



ompHmentt of 





Vice-President ud General Manager 

CONSOLIDATED RAILWAY ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND 
E0U1PMENT COMPANY, I» BROADWAY, NEW YORK 



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The Lighting of Railway Cars, 


Geo. D. Shepardson. 


I In the well-appointed passenger trains of Importance 
lo-day, traveling is a pleasure as compared 
[with the tedious journeys of a few decades 
since. The railways are on the alert to meet 
;the requirements of a discriminating public, 

,not only caring for their safe and prompt 
[transportation, but also catering to their de¬ 
mands for comfort and even luxury. A large 



irt of travel must be done during hours of 


ificial lighting, especially by business men, 
who constitute the majority of passengers and 
prho wish to do their traveling as much as 
possible outside business hours. The problem 
of securing satisfactory light in the cars is 
! therefore one of considerable importance. 

I In the early days, when people were Historical 
jaoeustomed to the light of flickering candles, Summar > 
no better light was desired on trains. At first 
the trips were short and were made only dur- 
jfng the daylight hours. The first artificial 
lighting of railway cars began nearly three- 
luarters of a century ago, passengers some¬ 
times furnishing their own candles or oil 
lamps on long journeys. Candles, fur¬ 
nished by the company and placed in con¬ 
venient pockets, were gradually displaced by 
lamps burning animal, vegetable or mineral 
toils. The oil lamp was developed until it 








Early 

Experiments 


Objectionable 
Features of 
Old Methods 


gave quite a respectable light, although 
companied by disagreeable and expens 
features, and the suspicion that fires in c« 
nection with wrecks were aggravated, if ] j 
caused, by oil lamps quite as often as by stovj 

As early as 1856, experiments were mil 
on the Chicago and Galena Railway wj 
the use of compressed city gas for car lighth I 
Coal gas loses much of its illuminating pov; 
when compressed, and has therefore been pr: 
tically abandoned for train use. In 18» 
Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, began experiment] 1 
with various gases, and found that gas made j 
heating oil to a high temperature would sta 
compression with little loss of illuminati 
power. He succeeded in building up a bn 
ness of great magnitude. During the 1; 
few years, acetylene gas made from calcii 
carbide, a product of the electric furnace, ] 
been applied to car lighting with more or 1< 
success. Incandescent electric lamps w< 
first used for train lighting in 1881, and i 
now used in many of the best trains in 
countries. 

Each of the old methods of car lighti 
has certain features which are objectional 
to the traveling public, to railway men, or 
both. The first requirement in any satisfj 
tory method is safety. The devices for bumi 
oil and gas have been brought to a high sta 
of progress. Yet, with any illuminant reqx 
ing a flame, there is at least a possibility 
fire risk. In the case of gas, there is the a< 
possibility that pipes may become broken 
allow the gas to escape and mingle with 






jiir, until an explosive mixture is formed. The 
(results of the explosion of such a mixture 
vould not be pleasant to contemplate. 

The worst features of oil and gas are the Effects of 
products of combustion. Oil and gas lights not Combustion 
>nlv cause a large amount of heat, which adds 
o the discomfort of summer travel, but they 
lse up the oxygen of the air faster than do 
he passengers. The products of combustion 
ire generally carbonic acid gas, water vapor 
md heat. When the lights do not bum 
properly, they may give off more or less of 
i poisonous gas known as carbon monoxide. 

The presence of the carbonic acid gas and of 
he water vapor has a tendency to make a per¬ 
son feel drowsy and dull. The water vapor adds 
o the discomfort by reducing the evaporation 
! rom the skin. A large part of the waste from 
he body is eliminated through the skin by in¬ 
sensible perspiration, the evaporation of which 
jools the body. As the air becomes saturated 
kith water vapor, evaporation from the body 
diminishes and one soon becomes hot, drowsy 
md uncomfortable. The principal function 
)f the fan is not so much to cool the air as to 
'alow fresh air upon a person, and so increase 
:he evaporation from the body and thereby 
indirectly cool it. The electric fan in din¬ 
ing and parlor cars is a grateful luxury as it 
causes the air to circulate, even though it be 
(varm, and thus continually brings near the 
ikin air that is less fully saturated with 
moisture. 

The degree of emphasis to be placed Various 
upon this consideration may be inferred from iiiuminants 


3 




Damages by 
Oil Lamps 


Development 
of Electric 
Lighting 






a few figures. For illuminating various kin 
of American passenger cars, the light varii 
from the equivalent of that given by abo 
forty candles to that given by 1,200 
1,500 candles. The ordinary car has i 
illumination equal to that of about 1 
candles. The consumption of oxygen a] 
the products of combustion in the lam 
giving that amount of light may be coil 
pared directly with the presence of a nui 
ber of passengers, the candles being equ 
to about 115 adults, oil lamps being equal 
about eighty adults and gas being equal pro 
ably to about twenty-five adults. The abo 
comparison makes no allowance for the ad< 
tional discomfort of dirty lamps, which smolj 
and smell. 

A great objection to the oil lamp is i 
liability to smoke; and another is its liabili 
to leak oil on the carpets and upon the cloth 
or baggage of passengers. It was stated, se 
eral years ago, that it was costing the Pui 
man Company about $200,000 annually to r 
place carpets and other furnishings injun 
by oil lamps; no record being available, ho^ 
ever, of the damage to the property of pa 


sengers. 


When the incandescent electric lamp a i 
proached a commercial form, in 1879, i| 
advantages were quickly recognized. Expei j 
ments looking toward its use on railway ca l 
were begun almost before the first centr;jj 
station for stationary lighting was in oper;| 
tion. In spite of the frailties of the ear j 
lamp and the limited sources of electricil 


4 






J len available, the London, Brighton and 
I outh Coast Railway in England began in 
II i ovember, 1881, to operate electrically lighted 
•ains, and has continued this methed of illu- 
lination until the present time, making im- 
rovements from time to time as experience 
ictated. Soon after this trial began, other 
oads, in nearly every country, followed; and 
>day the number of cars lighted by electricity 
ims up into the tens of thousands, not count- 
lg the myriads of trolley cars which are lighted 
nd propelled from the same source of power. 

1 history of the development of electric 
ghting for railway cars would make an in- 
eresting study for railway officials and others 
/'ho desire to keep fully posted in this branch 
f electrical work. 

As is generally known, the light of an in Advantages 
andescent electric lamp comes from a slender cent Electric 
arbon filament in a vacuum maintained ^ amps 
irithin a closed glass bulb; this filament being 
eated to a high temperature by an electric 
urrent. So little heat escapes to the outside 
hat the lamp may be placed with safety in 
|lmost any location desired. There is no open 
^ame which may set fire to combustibles near 
<y, and the external temperature is so low 
jhat only actual contact for a considerable 
lime will carbonize or ignite the most in- 
•ammable material. It heats the atmosphere 
o a very limited extent only, and does not 
itiate it in the least, there being no com- 
•ustion. The lamp may be lighted without 
| . match by the simple turning of a key, and 
nay be extinguished with equal facility and 






safety. With proper care on the part of thos 
in charge, there will he no fluctuation in tb 
light, neither streaks nor shadows. Experj 
ence has shown methods of construction an 
operation which make the electric light sal! 
as a fire risk, and the voltage used is so lo’ 
that it is impossible to receive a shock of an ; 
consequence. 

Electric When the electric berth lamp was intr< 

Berth Lights . 1 

duced it met with instant success. A passer 

ger who has enjoyed the luxury of a cool ligl 

at his shoulder, available at any time durinj 

the night, without any disturbance, alwa\ 

seeks a sleeping car with electric lights. Th 

traveling public is satisfied with nothing less 

and to-day no train can be called thoroughl 

modern and up-to-date unless it can advertis 

berth lights. 

Electric Fans The latter are electric, of course, fc 

no other kind has appeared. Along wit 

the berth lamp is the possibility of ha\ 

ing electric fans to keep the air in circuit* 

tion. Another advantage which appeals t 

ladies is the comfort of heating a curling iro 

without the nuisance of an alcohol lamp, s 

trying and dangerous in the cramped quarter 

usually allowed for ladies’ dressing rooms. O 

trains equipped with storage batteries, eac 

compartment and each dressing room may b 

furnished with electric heaters, always read, 

for use by simply inserting the tongs. 

Description Power for operating the electric lamps an 
of Means of , ° , 1 

Light Supply other devices may be obtained from storag 

batteries carried underneath the car, fror; 

dynamos, or from a combination of the two 


6 






’Tlie storage battery consists of a number of 
lead plates immersed in diluted sulphuric acid. 

When a current is sent through the battery from 
an outside source, certain chemical changes 
take place, which make the plates electric¬ 
ally different; so that when the circuit is pro¬ 
vided they will cause a current to flow through. 

There is no storage of electricity as such, the 
energy of the charging current being changed 
into chemical energy, which is stored and later 
is re-transformed into electrical energy. 

The dynamo, often called an electrical gene- Function of 
rator or a dynamo electric machine, is a device Dynamo 
for changing mechanical energy into electrical 
energy; it is based upon the interrelations of 
electricity and magnetism. For train lighting, 
the dynamo is driven by a steam engine in the 
baggage car, or it is belted to the axle. For the 
engine-driven dynamo, steam is obtained from 
the locomotive, and provision must be made 
for supplying light when the locomotive is 
changed at division points. There is likely to 
jibe some vibration from the engine throughout 
jthe,train, which, however, is noticeable only 
when the train is standing still. 

With the axle system, provision must be Function of 
imade for lighting the train when standing and 
{also when running at too low speed for the dy¬ 
namo to operate. The storage battery furnishes 
| the simplest means of supplying light at such 
times; suitable devices being arranged to 

I transfer the lights from dynamo to battery or 
Vice versa, as required. In connection with 
the axle-driven dynamos, the batteries are 
charged from the dynamo on the car, either 


7 




Choice of 
Lighting 
System 


Electric 
Lighting 
Recognized 
as Only 
Thing for 
Best Service 


while the lamps are lighted, or during the day. 
or at both times. Batteries used as auxiliaries; 
to engine-driven dynamos are charged eithei 
at rout* or at the terminals, while the train it 
being cleaned and inspected for the next trip. 
Batteries used for lighting without any dynamo 
on the train must be charged at the terminals 
of the road. 

The choice of an electric lighting system 
best adapted to a given train or to a given 
road involves a number of technical con¬ 
siderations which require careful investiga¬ 
tion. It may be said in general, however, that 
the storage battery without any dynamo on 
the train is suitable for trains which are not 
more than one day away from a source of 
charging current; that the system of engine 
with dynamo in the baggage car is suitable 
for solid trains going through to their 
destination, without any changes in make¬ 
up ; and that the axle-lighting system find? 
a field almost its own in the case of 
through trains on runs several thousand miles 
long, and on trains which are split up by hav¬ 
ing cars added or removed en route , while it 
can compete in point of economy and good 
service on trains for which the other systems 
are suitable. 

Comparing the different sources of light, 
passengers prefer gas to oil, and electricity 
to gas, provided the electric lights are prop¬ 
erly taken care of and are reliable. Since 
experiments with electric lights on trains have 
been made from the time when the electrical 
art was in an early stage of development, it is 


8 



not surprising that some of the early attempts 
were not as conspicuously successful as they 
were expensive. The compressed gas system 
was brought to a reliable and commercially 
successful stage ten years before the electric 
incandescent lamp was ready, and the gas 
interests made good use of their opportunity 
to preempt the field. After much expensive 
development, and in the face of many dis¬ 
couragements, the advocates of electric lights 
for train use have overcome nearly all ob¬ 
stacles ; and to-day the electric light is recog¬ 
nized as the only thing for the best service. 
The modern apparatus is developed to such a 
state of reliability and perfection that it is 
now possible for the railways to purchase 
electric lighting outfits, or to secure them on 
a rental basis at moderate cost and guaranteed 
by ample capital. Now that the electric light 
has won its standing with the railways, the 
public may expect a rapid adoption of this ad¬ 
mirable source of light and ventilation. 


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